Fortress Around Your Heart
by sorceror
Summary: Alternate history, takes place around UXM 199, fo
1. Remarks

Remarks

This story is set somewhere vaguely around X-Men 190-199. It's old, so deal with it. It's also an alternate history, so of course there's no point in worrying about any continuity lapses. I know a lot has happened since then, and I incorporated a tiny amount of that. I don't think anyone will have trouble following things. 

I haven't followed the comics in a while, but I always liked the X-Men and I had this idea rattling around in my head since high school. I found out about a.c.f-f, and this story came pouring out. It proved to be the easiest writing I've ever done. That may be an indication of its quality; I guess others will have to decide that. 

I always wanted Rogue and Fortress to meet up somewhere besides in my own head, and I thought Nimrod could have been put to much better use. I hope you'll agree. 

Anyway, legally speaking: 

Fortress is my own creation, all other characters are creations of Marvel Comics and are used without permission. No money is being made here and I don't have much anyway, so suing me is useless. Considering that this is an unauthorized work, there's no point in copyrighting it. I release it into the public domain. Do whatever you like with it, but good luck making money off of proprietary Marvel characters. If you choose to archive it, it would be nice if you let me know. 

"Sorceror", "Dr. Manhattan", sorceror171@hotmail.com 


	2. Dramatis Personae

Chapter One - "Dramatis Personae"

Nimrod sat on the roof of the building his host family lived in. He was thinking about feelings. He was disturbed that he'd been having more and more of them lately. In fact, being disturbed was a new sensation all its own. 

He had been constructed about 30 years in the future. He was the last, best Sentinel, one of the robots humanity had designed to protect themselves from the mutants that were menacing their society. He had been (would be?) deployed for a short time, tracking down the mutant's greatest champions, and humanity's greatest foes, the X-Men. One of their children, Rachel, had escaped into the past. Nimrod had followed, and he had apparently found her. 

But this was not his past, not precisely. In broad outline it matched, but details were different. For example, Senator Robert Kelley had been assassinated by mutants in Nimrod's timeline, but in this history he had survived the attack. 

He had arrived in this present just in time to save the life of Jaime Rodriguez, who had taken him in as a guest in gratitude. Nimrod was programmed to protect humans (at least, law-abiding ones) as a matter of course, but the Rodriguez family had become a higher priority than he'd expected. 

In watching their behavior, he had realized, despite the extensive psychological profiling systems he'd been designed with, that he somehow still understood very little about the species he'd been created to protect. Nimrod had altered his appearance to blend in, and had used his time to acquaint himself both with the human species and this period's history. 

Jaime's thoughts on mutants troubled Nimrod a great deal. He seemed to feel that there were good and bad mutants, just like humans. He also thought that, by isolating and scapegoating mutants, humans were creating a problem that didn't have to exist. 

In his own time, Nimrod knew, that was foolishness. Mutants had to be exterminated. But this was a different world - might a different outcome be possible? It would be more efficient to avoid conflict - perhaps allow some weaker mutants to survive unless they showed signs of becoming threatening? Nimrod was confused. He wasn't programmed to handle such questions. 

And the fact that he felt confused was also confusing. He had been built with a far superior, far more flexible machine intelligence than any Sentinel before. Some of his designers had said that he was smarter than they were, often rather nervously. But no one had told him to expect feelings. 

Still, the X-Men had to be eliminated. He was certain of that. They definitely were not law-abiding, and his knowledge of this world's history showed they were widely considered a threat. He had already attempted to destroy them once, along with the non-mutant enhanced power being Juggernaut, but he had been unsuccessful. 

In analyzing the battle, he had determined that one of the key factors in his defeat had been his attempt to tackle too many enemies at once. With so many opponents, there had been time to produce a workable strategy for stopping him. 

He came to a decision. It was time to seek some help. 

------------

Rogue was getting irritated. She'd been holding the jaws of a giant steel trap open for quite a while, and the laser projectors were really starting to focus on her. It didn't hurt, yet, but she knew it would soon. And still Wolverine and Nightcrawler were taking their sweet time defusing the bomb below her. 

"Y'all gonna finish up any time soon?" she griped. The lasers were starting to sting a bit. "Not that Ah mind getting a tan, but Ah generally prefer doing it outside." 

"Pipe down, 'Sugar'," Logan barked back. "We're almost there." The gruff Canadian was a mystery, even to his own team. No one was quite sure if Logan was his first or his last name. He must've had a shady past, based on some of the skills he had. His adamantium skeleton and claws made him about as good as anyone could be at general mayhem. And he was as ornery as his codename suggested. The other X-Men were glad he was on their side. 

One of his claws slid below the edge of the bomb casing. Adamantium was the strongest metal known - nuclear blasts couldn't scar it. But he didn't want to cut all the way through. He'd already realized that it would take too long to fully defuse, so he was just working on getting it away from the bottom of the trap. That was the goal of this training mission, anyway. 

"Please excuse him, leibchein," Nightcrawler called up. "You know how cranky Danger Room sessions make him." Kurt Wagner looked like a classic devil - fangs, pointed ears, indigo fur, and an actual tail. Looks were deceiving, though - he was a devout Roman Catholic, and one of the nicest people you could want to meet besides. 

The timer had almost reached zero when Wolverine freed the bomb and tossed it to Nightcrawler. "Hot Potato, Elf!" he called. The second Kurt touched the bomb, there was a puff of smoke and a '**BAMF**!' of imploding air. 

It was instantaneously matched by a complementary display on the far side of the room as Kurt appeared in midair. Another sulfurous discharge, and he was back among his teammates as the bomb fell to the floor, right next to the lasers that Rogue was already dodging as Wolverine jumped out of the trap. 

"Now that wasn't so..." he began, but then the bomb went off. It was a lot stronger than the three had expected, and it caught Nightcrawler at the worst possible moment, disoriented from teleporting. No one was hurt, but Kurt was knocked off his feet... right into Rogue. His bare face touched hers. 

No matter how many times it happened, the transfer was always a shock. Instantly her mind was flooded with Kurt's memories and emotions, and her body shifted, sprouting fur, fangs, and a tail just like his. Nightcrawler slumped bonelessly to the ground; Wolverine barely caught him. 

Rogue cursed inwardly; it was always awkward having another entire personality inside her head. She felt what they felt; their consciousness sat alongside her own. What made it worse was their struggles; they soon realized they were copies, not originals - and temporary copies at that. They could see in her memories exactly how they would fade away in seconds or at most minutes. 

Kurt was more polite than most - his faith allowed him to face "death" better than other "passengers" she'd had - though she could feel him wondering what happened to the soul of a copy when it passed away. Still, there was the almost involuntary sexual inventory that occurred whenever a male victim "came aboard". They just couldn't help trying to see what it was like to be female. Kurt, though Catholic, was not celibate (she could see memories of his frequent visits to the confessional) and he couldn't help peeking at her memories with an almost professional curiosity. 

The thoughts and feelings soon faded, along with the strange appearance - he'd only touched her for a split second. It was like waking from a dream; the memories faded as she halfheartedly reached for them. Nightcrawler was already stirring. He looked up at Rogue and Wolverine with embarrassment. "Oops," he said. He knew that he'd been absorbed, though he didn't know what had happened after that. 

Kitty called down from the observation booth above, "Is everything okay down there?" 

Logan called up, "Sure. Elf here got himself a trip to Rogueland. He'll be okay." 

"Good," Shadowcat replied. "I'd like to go over your performance, then..." 

Rogue flew to the door. "No thanks. Later, maybe. Ah'm tired." She tried to keep anyone from seeing her face. An awkward silence fell among her teammates as she swooped out into the hall and up the stairs. 

------------

She had flopped on the bed in her room before the door even slammed shut. She tried very hard to keep the tears from flowing, but they didn't want to stop. Not for the first time, she wished desperately for a normal life. 

Her mutant "power" was a curse. She had no control over it whatsoever. If her skin touched someone else's, she'd suck their memories and talents and abilities into herself. The only blessing was that it was almost always temporary. Almost. 

She'd absorbed Ms. Marvel's powers long ago, when she'd been a terrorist. It had been almost her first truly criminal act. She'd ambushed the superhero at her apartment door, and then touched her for way too long. That transfer had been permanent. She'd become amazingly strong, nearly invulnerable, able to fly at incredible speeds, and more. For some unknown reason, she was even more powerful than Ms. Marvel had been. But Carol Danvers' memories and feelings never fully went away. It frequently took conscious effort just to be herself. 

She'd learned to deal with it, to keep control of her own mind for the most part. Carol, however, resented it bitterly and only very grudgingly accepted her fate. It had driven them both nearly insane for a while. 

Carol's memories were a curse in other ways. They showed her things she'd never had, and probably would never have. A fairly normal childhood, public acceptance, being with a man. Rogue's power, like that of most mutants, had appeared at the onset of puberty. Her first real kiss was her last. 

Not caring what Carol thought (she could feel the judgment of "self-pity" in the back of her mind) she sobbed into her pillow. She ached for some kind of touch that wouldn't lead to horror. 

------------

Peter Rasputin tried very hard to sink a ball on break. His opponent was Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, and the moment Peter made a mistake, the game would be over. Scott's uncanny ability to judge reflections and angles would practically guarantee every shot. "Colossus" could turn into a 500-pound steel juggernaut, but that didn't help much when playing pool. 

The break was clean, and two balls went down. He'd see how long he could keep it going, but he wouldn't bet any money on the outcome. Ororo called from her chair, "Good job, Peter." She was a statuesque African, with a white mohawk and jarring blue eyes. 

Scott wondered what Storm had meant by that. There had been friction ever since he'd returned to the team. Ororo had been team leader for a while, but she'd lost her powers, and Scott had assumed that would put him in charge again. There seemed to be some dispute on that score. 

Moving carefully while Peter selected his shot, Scott deliberately closed his eyes, lifted his glasses, and rubbed at his eyelids. He didn't open his eyes until his glasses were firmly replaced. The caution was necessary; like Rogue, he had little control over his own power. He projected bolts of concussive force from his eyes, continuously. Only objects made of specially treated ruby quartz, like his glasses, could contain them. 

Rachel walked into the den where the other X-Men relaxed after their own daily training. She'd escaped from a horrible future where humanity worked to exterminate mutants, and found acceptance here with the people who would become mutants' greatest champions. She had had another reason for coming here; she hadn't told anyone that Scott was (would be?) her father. 

But in this strange time, her mother was dead. Scott was romantically involved with another woman. How could she ever be born here? To preserve some kind of memory, she'd taken the codename of her mother, Phoenix. Still, maybe it was for the best - different conditions now might mean hope for the future. That didn't help how her heart ached every time she saw her daddy, young again, alive again. 

She'd just come from a session with Charles Xavier, the man who'd assembled the mutants into a team. He dreamed of a time when mutants and humans could live together in peace. He was sincere - a mutant himself, he was very likely the most powerful telepath in the world. He had been filling her in on some psychic techniques she'd not had the opportunity to learn in her own time. "Any chance I could play the winner?" she asked. 

Scott smiled. "No way. You cheat, you telekinetic hustler." 

"From what I've heard, you made a lot of money hustling in your misspent youth," she quipped. She relaxed, enjoying the closest thing to a normal life she'd ever known. 

------------

Magneto strode purposefully down the hallway, nearly bowling over Toad, who only just leaped out of the way. Toad's jump was as graceful as his appearance was grotesque. He greatly resembled his namesake. Unus and Lorelei were waiting in the main control room, and stood up when their leader entered the room. He ignored them and sat down in front of a console, lashing out at the keyboard. 

Magneto was one of the most powerful mutants in history. Using his near-total mastery of electromagnetism, he had captured a nickel-iron asteroid and turned it into a base of operations. Here, he had access to raw materials (the rock was rich with many metals) and undisturbed privacy. It lay in an orbit outside the moon's, so few visitors dropped by. 

He called up the latest news feeds from Earth. One of the most minor side-effects of his intimate knowledge of electrical phenomena allowed him to build devices capable of intercepting TV and radio signals even this far from their intended audience. Indeed, had he any personal ambition, the technology arrayed about him would have made him a billionaire many times over. 

He was not personally ambitious. He had survived the Holocaust, in part due to his powers, and he was absolutely devoted to preventing another such catastrophe befalling mutants. It was clear to him that the only way to do so was to ensure that mutants ruled humans. 

The recent reports did nothing to dissuade him. An editorial by a TV station in Orlando talked about the need to register all mutants and keep track of their whereabouts. "For the good of the community, we cannot allow such dangerous individuals the same liberties enjoyed by..." 

Magneto wondered if the X-Men were watching. They had opposed him numerous times, preferring to try negotiating with humans, even trusting them. Even after they had found out about the U.S. government's top-secret Sentinel Project. Even as mutants all over the world lived in fear of discovery, hiding their true nature lest it be their deaths. 

------------

The motel was not top-of-the-line, nor was it close to downtown, but it was cheap, and therefore perfect for four college dudes on a road trip. As the beat-up Ford pulled into the parking lot, the driver called out. "Yo, guys, we're here. Wakey-wakey." 

The other three got up and began gathering their things. Steve hopped off to check in, while Brian and Dave went to the trunk to start unloading bags. 

Greg got out, stretched, and looked around. Off to the southeast, he could see some of the famous New York City skyline. The trip hadn't been his idea, but he'd always liked the Big Apple. He'd been there far more often than his companions suspected. 

He easily hefted his duffel bag and carried it up to their room - but not too easily. He liked his friends, but it wouldn't be wise to let them know just how strong he was. 


	3. We All Have Our Separate Battles

Chapter Two - "We All Have Our Separate Battles..."

Rogue banked into a sharp turn, just missing a jutting flagpole... and just being missed by a sizzling bolt of energy from the pursuing Sentinel. This fight was not going well. 

Many of the X-Men had come to New York for something of a diplomatic mission to the Hellfire Club. Though personally, Rogue didn't trust them any further than she could throw... well, she didn't trust them. Still, they were mutants, and the way things were going these days, even enemy mutants had to stick together. Maybe. 

The beautiful fall day had soon turned sour. Nimrod had suddenly appeared over their van, and this time he had three Sentinels with him. They were smaller than the Sentinels the X-Men were used to - only about twelve feet tall. Things had gotten very scrambled very quickly, and the X-Men had been split up. Rogue had tried to swing back to help her comrades several times, but the robot following her had blocked every attempt. 

_{That thing's fast, too.}_ She was barely staying ahead of it, with the help of her 'seventh-sense' power. She just knew - usually almost too late - where the robot was, what it was going to do next. She dropped six feet suddenly, and sure enough, another zap crackled through the air she'd been occupying. But it was closer than the last one. 

She swung over a construction site, only inches from the top of the beams, and plucked a steel pipe from a heap as she went by. Maybe she could throw it back at the robot, buy a few seconds to press the attack... worth a shot. 

Suddenly she realized that she couldn't sense where the Sentinel was. _{Nah... it couldn'ta adapted to my seventh sense... could it? Ah sure hope not!}_ Either way, now was the time to try her plan. She twirled in the air, bringing the pipe around like a javelin, seeking her target. _{Ah can throw a quarter through four-inch steel plate, so you'd best have insurance, suckah!}_

**WHAM**! Blinding light, a feeling like Storm's lightning at full force, a piledriver blow to her chest... Rogue was rocketing through the air. She heard more than felt the impact when she slammed through a brick wall thirty stories up. She couldn't move, couldn't think. Nothing worked. She could barely see. The sound of the robot's jets rumbled closer. She knew dimly that if she didn't do something fast, it was over. But everything was still spinning... 

A shockwave rolled across her, like an artillery shell had landed a few feet away. She heard shrapnel chittering to the floor. The jets were gone. Suddenly she felt someone rolling her over, carefully feeling for injuries. An unfamiliar voice said, "Are you okay? Oh, jeez, please be okay. Come on." 

Recovering somewhat, she looked up. She was lying next to an overturned desk, tiny pieces of Sentinel scattered all around. It was an office building, and a few people were cowering at the far end of the room. She was half-supported at the shoulders by a stranger. He was dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, a jean jacket. He had a ski mask on, but she could see his eyes were green. His sneakers squeaked as he changed posture slightly. 

Looking at her face, he saw her eyes were open. "All right! You okay? You took quite a hit back there." She was still woozy, but getting better. She took stock. Bad headache, ears ringing, a twinge in her knee that she didn't like, her costume was torn up... her costume was torn. 

And his bare hand was cupping her bare shoulder. 

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" she shrieked, jumping out of his grip, backing up against the wall. She was very awake now. She waited for the stranger to keel over, for the flood of alien memories, strange powers... and she waited... and it didn't come. 

He had put his hands up in a 'don't hurt me' pose. Yes, they definitely had no gloves on. "Hey, it's cool, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything, honest, I was just..." He trailed off. She stared. 

He stammered, "Uh, look, if you're okay, I'm going to see if your friends need any help. Okay?" Rogue still stared. "Okay. Uh, see you later." He quickly flew out through the hole in the wall. She heard a muffled sonic boom. 

For a long time she just sat there against the wall, her thoughts running in endless circles. 

_{He touched me. And nothing happened. He touched me. And nothing happened.}_

------------

Storm and Cyclops dodged around the corner of the storefront into an alley. The Sentinel behind them was closing fast - faster than they'd expected. It had also adapted quickly to Cyclops' optic blasts. Its surface had turned a crimson shade unpleasantly like ruby quartz. A few test bursts a block ago had done nothing. 

"It's not talking," Storm barked quickly between breaths. She loped with easy grace along the irregular surface of the alley, barely breathing hard. 

_{She's right,}_ Scott thought - Sentinels normally kept up a running commentary about how they thought the battle was going, and a continuous estimate of how long until their targets would be "eliminated". This one hadn't said anything since the chase began three blocks ago - like Nimrod himself, Scott realized. 

"Break right at the turn," he panted back. They had just rounded the corner at the end of the alley when a blast of energy scorched the air behind them. And their path was blocked by a wall. They could scale it, but not in time. Cyclops prepared to blast through it, but then he heard the unmistakable sound of children playing on the other side. He couldn't risk it. 

Cyclops spun around, desperate to find some other escape. His eyes lighted upon a concrete cylinder - a traffic stop. His instinctive judgment for angles kicked into play. If he could jog left... he could blast it free, and bounce it at high speed into the Sentinel... 

But even as he started to move, the Sentinel emerged from the alley. He saw Storm charging it - he knew she was trying to draw its fire, trading her life to give Scott a chance. He also saw it wasn't going to be enough. Time slowed. 

A streak bolted from the sky behind the Sentinel, barely subsonic, directly at the robot. Scott had almost no time to register what happened next - a curtain of white light appeared behind the robot, the streak collided and ricocheted, smashing into a building and through the wall. The sound was deafening, like a clap of thunder. 

The robot spun quickly and advanced on the hole in the wall. A figure rolled over from under a pile of bricks and beams and shook its head, obviously stunned. Scott suddenly realized it wasn't Rogue, as he'd assumed. It was a man, dressed in civilian clothes (now rather tattered) and a ski mask. The man looked up as the robot approached. He shook his head once more and leaped (no, flew) forward. 

Again Cyclops had trouble following the action. It looked like the man's fingers lengthened and widened, simultaneously becoming silvery. His hand was suddenly an eight-foot parody of Wolverine's claws, with giant mirrored razors at every fingertip. One slash, and the Sentinel was split in five pieces. 

Cyclops might have been taken aback, but he hadn't been the leader of the X-Men for many years because he took chances or missed opportunities. He didn't know if the Sentinel could repair that much damage, but a full-force optic blast on the exposed innards of the Sentinel pulverized the robot before it had the opportunity. 

"Owww," the man said, rubbing his shoulder as he landed next to the pair of X-Men. His hand now looked perfectly normal. "That sneak attack worked just a minute ago on the other one." He sounded annoyed at the unfairness of it all. 

"They adapt quickly, and they share information. You cannot stop them the same way twice." Storm explained. "Thank you for the help, by the way." There was no sign in her voice that she'd just been less than a second from dying. Scott was impressed in spite of himself. He was also impressed with this stranger - he'd apparently taken out two Sentinels. 

"Hey, uh, no problem." He paused nervously, looking at them. "Uh, we should probably go see if your friends need help. Want a lift?" 

------------

Shadowcat was getting tired of running. A quick attempt at phasing through a Sentinel had failed, and she'd barely ducked beneath the surface of the street in time. The cement had looked more like cobblestone when she'd surfaced seconds later. Then, despite a vagrant impulse to leave him, she'd phased a battered Colossus through a couple of walls and the chase had been on. 

"You okay there, big guy?" she said, smoothly leaping over a cardboard box in the lot they were racing across. He'd taken some monstrous blows from the Sentinel. She wondered how the others were doing - especially Phoenix. The last she'd seen, Nimrod was going after Rachel himself. 

"I... will be all right. Do you have an idea for what to do with our silent friend?" They, too, had noticed the taciturn nature of this new crop of Sentinels. 

"Actually, yes." 

Colossus jumped over a dumpster. She had no choice but to phase through it. It slowed her down a little, but as she came out the other side, she heard a blast of energy smack into the screaming metal. Phasing ought to protect her, though she wasn't going to count on it if she could help it. 

"Would you be so kind as to share it with me?" He was irritated more than he should have been by her coolness. It wasn't his fault that he'd fallen in love with another woman after being abducted to the far side of the cosmos, was it? And, well, even if it was, this was no time to be surly about it. So why did he still feel guilty? 

"Nah. When we make the turn, just keep running. You make a good target." She took a few extra breaths - she'd need them for what she had planned. They emerged onto a side lane. 

They took the turn at full speed, and suddenly Shadowcat phased again, diving right down into the street. Colossus had no choice but to keep running. The center of his back itched... that was where the Sentinel would zap him. 

The Sentinel made the turn sharply, almost gracefully. Jets were unnecessary for this type of pursuit; at least not yet. It conserved energy to run. [PRIMARY TARGET ACQUIRED - DESIGNATE COLOSSUS. CHARGING PARTICLE BEAM NINE. SECONDARY TARGET NOT TRACKED - BRINGING ENHANCED SENSORS ONLINE. CAUTION INDICATED - AMBUSH PROBABLE.] 

But even as the "thought" passed through the killing machine's "mind", it lost its footing. Its sensors were confused - it was falling through apparently solid pavement. It realized what was happening an instant too late. The pavement became solid again. 

Colossus stopped dead when he heard the metallic scream from behind. He whirled around, and paused for a moment, amazed. Most of the Sentinel was embedded in the street. The head, shoulder, and one arm was flailing about. Everything glowed red-hot where the robot and the pavement tried to coexist. _{She phased the street under it,}_ he suddenly understood, a little awed. 

The sight didn't stop him long. He charged forward and delivered a brutal kick into the exposed part of the robot's chest, which practically exploded from the punishment. He shot his head around, searching desperately for a sign of Kitty anywhere. 

A few feet away, Shadowcat slid up from below the street. As always, it was a little eerie seeing her phase through solid matter, like a ghost. Her breath escaped in a burst, and she drew great gasps of fresh air. She slowly sat down and put her head between her legs. 

Colossus rushed over. "Kitty, are you all right? I didn't know you could phase that much..." 

"I've been practicing. But I really don't want to have to do that again." She began to sit up straight. 

Unnoticed behind them, the Sentinel's head had landed facing the pair. Its eyes began to glow, as it readied for a killing blast... 

Rogue slammed down with both feet on top of the head, shattering it into fragments. "Y'all gotta keep better watch than that!" she called. "These're tricky critters!" 

"Rogue, are you okay?" Kitty called, coming to her feet. "You look kinda beat up." She saw the torn costume and held back from touching her teammate. She could see that Rogue was... nervous. Disturbed. 

"Yeah, Ah'm okay. Ah, er, got some help." She didn't volunteer any more. 

"Oh. Okay." She pondered the situation, then dismissed it, for the moment. "Your costume is a mess, and we'd better see if the others need help. Here, let me." She began to unwrap part of her own costume, so Rogue could safely carry them all. They silently hoped that there would still be a battle to join. 


	4. Tell Me Why

Chapter Three - "Tell Me Why"

Phoenix was near panic. Her telekinesis didn't affect Nimrod directly. Her telepathic abilities were even less effective on a robot. There wasn't anywhere else to flee to, and she was running out of projectiles to fling. She'd tossed most of a parking lot at the vicious thing and she now had a good start on a junkyard scattered around. 

The robot had been trying out various weapons, methodically, looking for weaknesses. He seemed to have hit upon some kind of sonic weapon that she had a hard time fighting. The shriek made it nearly impossible to think - and since her powers were psychic in nature, that was very bad. 

Suddenly Nimrod paused in his assault. He turned bright red, and looked off to the left. An instant later, an optic blast splashed harmlessly across his chest. Rachel was both relieved and afraid to see her teammates arriving. She knew something of what Nimrod was capable of, and she feared for all their lives. 

She saw the stranger, and wondered for a moment - but she was still fighting off the sonic scream, and couldn't spare much attention. 

Colossus was tossing a lamp-post at the robot, and Rogue was also looking for something to throw. Cyclops kept trying different spots on Nimrod, to no obvious effect. She didn't see Shadowcat, and she hoped that meant she was sneaking up on the robot, and not... not... 

She redoubled her telekinetic assault on the robot, but they weren't having enough of an effect - a scratch on his armor was all they'd managed. 

Storm turned to the stranger. She had realized as he carried them that he was younger than she'd first thought; at most he was in his very early twenties. "He has learned from our previous battle, and from the other Sentinels. We need to come up with something new." She wished they hadn't left Wolverine and Nightcrawler behind at the mansion. 

He was silent for a second. "I've got an idea. Gimme just a minute." Then he flew off between some buildings. Storm wondered for a moment if he was fleeing. There wasn't much time; Nimrod was visibly regrouping, and picking targets for a counterattack. She thought furiously; there should be an electrical main close by... if they could divert that power... She wished yet again that she hadn't been stripped of her powers to control the weather. 

Suddenly she spotted the stranger in the sky. He was very high up, and there was something... it looked like a giant ring around him, like heat distortion. _{What could he be doing?}_ she wondered. 

Then there was no question about what he was doing. The ring had become a mirrored disk, hundreds of yards across, a bit concave. And it was reflecting the sun... at Nimrod. 

Nimrod had once seen children using a magnifying glass on some insects in the Barrio. He now knew just what those insects had felt like. The light wasn't coherent like a laser, but that made it worse. He was built to withstand lasers. His sensors reported that his outer armor was vaporizing. An optic blast shattered his now-vulnerable hand. 

He pondered for several thousandths of a second. Even the allies he'd constructed hadn't been enough. He was back to facing several enemies at once, and now there was this new factor. 

There was a sizzling, crackling '**ZAP**!', and Nimrod was gone. 

The X-Men took stock. Everyone seemed to be okay, at least at first glance. Rachel rejoiced inwardly to see Kitty rising up from the ground under the parking lot. In the future, Kate had been her friend and mentor. Rachel hadn't admitted it to anyone here, but she'd been brainwashed in the future, used to hunt other mutants. In a very real sense, Kate had saved (would save?) her soul. 

Sirens were wailing in the distance, getting closer, as the newcomer landed next to the group. "Where the heck did he go?" 

Storm answered again. "Whenever we are close to defeating him, he runs away. And he can repair himself from almost any amount of damage. We are going to have to find a way to defeat him permanently, or soon he will be unstoppable." 

Kitty broke in. "Those Sentinels with him. Did anyone notice anything strange about them?" 

"They were fast. And they didn't blather about how they were doing. I've never seen ones like that before." Cyclops was concerned. 

"I have." Rachel's comment silenced the group for a moment. Rachel hadn't shared many specifics with them, but they knew that the future she had come from would have been a nice vacation spot for Hitler. If there would be more Sentinels like those... 

Rogue had been quiet during the whole exchange, staring at the young man in the torn clothing. Many conflicting thoughts and emotions chased themselves through her mind. 

The sirens were getting closer. "Thanks again for your help," Cyclops told the stranger. "We probably should get going. Would you like to come with us? I think there's a few things we could talk about." 

"Uh, maybe later. I've really got to get back before... well, I've really got to go." He actually looked rather shy. 

"Could we arrange to meet later? We would love to..." Storm began. Cyclops shot her a look. She calmly looked back. 

He paused. "All right. Uh, Saturday, ten a.m., is that all right? In front of the Empire State Building?" 

"Fine," Cyclops replied. The sirens were very close now. "Wait, how will we know you?" 

Another nervous pause. "I'll look for you. Who should I look for?" 

"Ah'll do it!" Rogue jumped in impulsively. Slightly abashed, she continued, "Ah mean, it's easy for me to get there, and..." 

"Okay, cool," the stranger broke in. "Those cops have got to be around the corner. See you this weekend!" He shot off into the sky, very fast. 

The rest of the X-Men broke for a subway entrance. If they could get down to the Morlock tunnels, they'd avoid a hassle with the police. 

------------

While Rachel was telekinetically carrying most of team back to the mansion (Rogue had gone on ahead, being able to fly much faster) she used her psi-powers to link up the team in an impromptu conference to share notes about the recent battle. The rush of air made talking impractical anyway. 

_{Who was that guy? He really did a number on Nimrod.}_ Rachel had already related her difficulties in battling the armored robot. 

_{I don't know for sure,}_ Scott replied, _{but I saw him take out our Sentinel in a couple of seconds.}_ A mental movie played for the others, showing them what he'd seen. 

_{Apparently a new, powerful mutant. It helped that he'd never fought those Sentinels or Nimrod before,}_ Kitty mused. _{Did you see how he spooked Rogue? She was really flipped out.}_

_{I saw that as well,}_ Storm thought. _{I had the impression he met her first. Apparently he dealt with her Sentinel, too.}_ She passed on the short conversation they'd had. _{What could upset her so?}_

_{I couldn't psi-scan him very well.}_ Rachel felt the group's disapproval for invading another's mind without permission. She didn't let them see that it was almost second nature to her. That was one of the least nasty habits she'd picked up, just surviving in her native time. _{It felt strange, like there was something muffling his mind.}_ She shared the sensation with her teammates. 

_{Like looking through dirty glass, or maybe fog,}_ Peter tried to put it into words. The artist in him was already trying to figure out a way to paint it. 

Kitty chimed in, _{Apparently whatever makes him invulnerable also helps block psychic contact, too. That would explain why he's never shown up on our long-range Cerebro scans. Assuming he is a mutant.}_

_{I could get at emotions,}_ Rachel "said". _{He really was trying to help us. He was more scared than I expected - he almost didn't agree to meet Rogue.}_

_{What about Nimrod's new Sentinels?}_ Scott interrupted. _{I'm really not looking forward to facing them again. Where did he find them?}_

All minds "turned" to Rachel. _{I don't know. They were like the Sentinels from my time. Little differences, a bit larger, slower. Not quite as strong. But the same basic design.}_

Kitty's mind was racing. _{Maybe he didn't find them. Maybe he built them. You told us Nimrod was new, experimental. Maybe he couldn't duplicate himself with the technology available today. (Thank goodness.) So he did the best he could with the parts he could make.}_

_{That makes sense,}_ Scott agreed. _{It doesn't give us much to go on for our next battle, though.}_

None of the group had anything to add to that. 

------------

Greg swooped down onto the balcony of their motel room, ripping off his ski mask. He slipped inside, grateful to see his friends were still out getting lunch. He tore off his clothes, which hadn't survived the battle very well. He quickly got a new outfit on, and packed his shredded clothing at the bottom of his bag. 

He'd seen the flashes of energy outside the window just as Steve had proposed lunch. Greg had lied and said he wasn't hungry, and the others had gone to the pizza place at the corner. Not really knowing why, he'd quickly disguised himself as best he could and set out. 

Greg walked down the stairs, headed for the pizza joint. He could say he'd changed his mind. On the way, he tried to sort out his thoughts. 

He'd met the X-Men! The battle had been... exhilarating, but he wasn't sure it had been the wisest thing to do. He knew he'd been lucky, like before. And that woman... she was gorgeous (they all were) but why had she freaked out? And why had she stared at him like that? 

And did he really want to come back on Saturday? 


	5. Setting Parameters

Chapter Four - "Setting Parameters"

For days now Rogue had been nervous and agitated. She was glad in a way for the double consciousness she had - it made psychic probes difficult. Xavier had once compared it to "looking at a picture that was double-exposed." 

She'd reported to the others how he'd rescued her, and listened very attentively to their observations about him. They could tell she was leaving something out, but no one pressed her. 

What did it mean? Was she finally getting control of her power? Had he been immune for some reason? If so, would he still be immune? Could she trust him? But what if he represented her only chance to... how much was she willing to risk? 

------------

She waited outside the entrance to the Empire State building, her back against the wall. There was a chill in the air, so none of the locals or tourists thought it unusual that she was wearing a jacket and gloves. 

Not like in the summer. She was fairly immune to overheating, so extra clothes didn't bother her that way. But she liked shorts and t-shirts, and she could only wear them in controlled circumstances. She always drew stares in August when she went out in public. 

Her outfit was deliberately casual. Ankle boots, blue jeans, a long-sleeved green blouse, her short leather jacket, and dark green gloves. That didn't mean she hadn't spent over an hour picking it out. Her makeup had taken equally long; there wasn't much, but she'd chosen it very carefully. 

Glancing at her watch, her nervousness increased. It was 10:06. Was he just running late? Would she be stood up? _{Don't think of it like that.}_ Could something have happened to him? Then her portable Cerebro unit beeped. A faint signal, probably a hundred yards away. 

"Hi." It was his voice, right next to her. He'd come out from inside the building; she hadn't expected that. And he didn't show up well on a Cerebro scan, like Kitty had figured; but he was a mutant. She turned to face him. "Sorry I'm late," he continued. "I was, well, casing the place. Call me paranoid." 

He had a scarf over the lower half of his face, but she knew the eyes. A light jacket didn't offer much protection against the wind; he didn't seem to mind. She realized that he was as nervous as she was. She didn't think it was for the same reason. 

"Ah understand. Maybe we should move along," she said. "Ah know somewhere a little less public." He nodded, and they walked for a while down the street. "Thanks again for helpin' us out." 

"You're welcome." There wasn't any recognizable emotion in his tone. "I was lucky, too." His eyes kept moving, constantly looking around. 

"You impressed me," she replied. She had to force herself to look straight ahead, not stare at him. Wondering what would happen if she took off her glove and touched his face, she stopped. "Here, this way." She led him into an alley, then looked up. "Let's head upstairs, 'kay?" 

"Sure." Up they flew, and Rogue led him to the top of an office building on the edge of downtown. It offered a good view and she'd never seen anyone come up to the roof. They landed facing each other. 

"So, uh, what do you want, exactly?" He was nervous! He still hadn't dropped the scarf. And he kept glancing about, as if expecting an attack. 

_{What does his face look like?}_ She didn't answer him the way she wanted to. 

"We'd like to invite you to come visit us. We can help you, y'know, develop your powers, use 'em better." _{And Ah want to know why you could touch me.}_

"I'm not exactly the X-Men type. I mean, you guys are heroes, you've saved the world. Literally! I don't think I'm up to that." 

_{If only more humans thought of us that way,}_ Rogue wished. "Ah didn't mean you'd have to join us. We just, y'know, try to help people out where we can. It's gettin' to be a scary world out there, y'know?" _{Stop saying 'y'know'!!}_

He turned, thinking. Rogue waited breathlessly, trying not to stare, trying not to spook him. She wondered if her hair looked all right; it was not a typical thought. Carol hovered in the back of her mind, faintly amused, thinking he was cute. Rogue felt a surge of irrational jealousy, and cried, _{You shut up! He's mine!}_

_{Not yet he isn't. Maybe not ever,}_ Carol retorted spitefully. But she retreated a bit. 

He turned back. "What the heck. Why not? Where are we going?" There was a smile in his voice. It didn't completely mask his anxiety. 

Rogue smiled back, inwardly jubilant, and terrified. Carol snickered from some corner of their mind. 

------------

He and Rogue easily covered the distance to "Charles Xaviers' School for Gifted Youngsters" in less than twenty minutes. He'd inwardly groaned at the pun, but the grounds were very nice, and the mansion was impressive. He'd met the X-Men again, and Prof. Xavier. 

He hadn't quite relaxed, but he'd finally decided to ditch the scarf. It wasn't really concealing much anyway. He still wouldn't give his full name. They were introducing themselves, explaining their powers, and giving small demonstrations. They'd gotten to Xavier, who demonstrated his talents right off. 

_{Hello,}_ Greg had heard in his mind, _{and welcome. I've been looking forward to...}_ and then the voice cut off. 

Greg's skin had turned silvery. He jerked like he'd had an electric shock, and only just barely kept himself from shooting out the door. "Get out of my head!" he yelled. Xavier and the other X-men had been rather taken aback, and some dropped into defensive postures instinctively. 

"Of course, if you prefer," the Professor said politely. "I assure you, I meant no offense." 

Greg felt around, but there was no trace of anything strange in his mind. He relaxed very slightly; his skin regained its normal color. "Okay. Fine. But stay out! I mean it." He was shaking a little. 

Several of the X-Men exchanged glances, but they tried to smooth over the difficulty. Rachel only mentioned her telekinesis when it was her turn. Rogue didn't mention her ability to absorb powers and minds; she only demonstrated the powers he'd seen. 

He consented to an examination. Using equipment that he'd never seen before, they established what he'd already told them. He was continually surrounded and penetrated by a force field. It amplified his strength; protected him from impact, energy, and extremes of temperature; and allowed him to fly. 

"Greg, how did you cut apart that Sentinel?" Scott asked. 

"I can extend the field out from my body, make it take on other shapes. It's not easy, but I've practiced things like knives and pincers and such. Simple shapes." 

"And when you focused the sun on Nimrod?" Storm probed. 

"The field's either totally transparent or perfectly reflective. I can switch it. Except over my eyes. Something instinctively lets in only the light my eyes can handle. I can stare right at the sun." It was so... liberating, being able to talk about his powers. He hadn't even told his parents he was a mutant. 

"So you can make it invisible?" Logan asked. 

"No, transparent doesn't mean invisible. Light bends when it goes through it. It's a lot closer to water. It's nearly invisible underwater. And I guess it's hard to spot when it's dark." 

"And it's always on?" Kitty queried. 

"Yeah. I had to learn to turn it off; it's kind of an effort. I can't do it for long. Sorta like holding your breath." 

"I can't see it around you now," Peter objected. He looked a lot smaller when he wasn't made of steel, but he was still a big man. 

"It's less than a millimeter thick, normally. If it's not reflecting, the distortion is hard to spot." 

"You don't look wet," Peter said obstinately. 

"It doesn't reflect at all. So it doesn't glisten like water." 

"But reflections happen when light crosses between two substances with different refractive indexes!" Kitty said. 

"I know that, but I guess my field doesn't. It either distorts or reflects, not both. Impossible, I know." Greg shrugged and actually looked sheepish. 

"I must say, you've really gotten a handle on your powers." Nightcrawler's appearance was disquieting at first, but he was so friendly and charming that Greg was getting used to him fast. Rogue was still confusing; she'd clammed up almost completely since they'd arrived. But she watched him. 

"I had to learn how to control it. At first, it was all instinctive. Later, I built a little biofeedback device... from a diagram in a book." The X-men pretended not to notice the pause. "I used it to learn how to shape the field. It's still not easy. I lose it if I try to make something too complicated." 

"Wow," Kitty said, "we use biofeedback ourselves sometimes. I'd love to see that when you get a chance." Despite her youth, Greg had gotten from her the distinct impression of a very intelligent young woman. 

"Sure. I'll bring it next time." _{Rogue's staring again.}_ "Any other tests you have in mind?" 

"Yeah," she replied, "wait 'til you see the Danger Room!" 

------------

The room hadn't looked like much at first - a large, metal-walled box. But a lot of machinery was hidden behind those walls. A hydraulic press, lasers, odd weapons. 

They put him through some paces, lifting weights, repelling lasers. He was careful not to do too well. It was hard for a mutant to let go of years of paranoia. 

Greg had found himself standing in a grassy meadow, in the middle of a cloudy day. They had explained that the sophisticated, "special" technology could reproduce almost any environment. He wondered where the hell it had been developed, because the illusion was total. 

Well, except for the window that hovered unsupported about fifty feet in the air. The X-Men crowded into the observation/control booth, watching him. Xavier and Kitty were at the controls. 

"All right, young man," Xavier called down, "we're going to run an easy testing program. We just want to get an idea of how well you use your powers under pressure. As I said, the safety systems will ensure that no harm comes to you. Think of it as a game." 

"Right." Nervously he scanned the horizon. Then, suddenly, there were three people in costumes a dozen yards away. A giant fat hulk; a slim blond figure with what appeared to be a flamethrower on his back; and a powerfully-built man with a metal helmet and strange gauntlets. 

"Get him!" one cried, and the battle was on. 


	6. Approaching Storm

Chapter Five - "Approaching Storm"

Suddenly the ground slipped out from under him. He fell, then hopped up and hovered in midair. That didn't last long, since a wave of earth broke over his head and he was buried. 

He burst out of the ground, and stabilized about twenty feet in the air. The blond one fired a sheet of flame, which was easily dodged - until it curved around like a hand. Shocked, Greg dived, putting the fat man between himself and the flame. 

The giant turned to face him. "Hey there, squirt. My turn." Greg ducked the slow roundhouse and made a jab for the belly. But his hand didn't come back. He pulled harder; it was like it was embedded in taffy. The fat man laughed, and swung a few punches; Greg parried one-armed. He lifted, but it was like the guy was rooted to the ground. He didn't budge. 

"Teach you to mess with the Blob!" the gross hulk shouted, and landed a solid punch to Greg's face. Then there was a sound, a **whump** like a muffled explosion. A huge wave rippled across the fat man's body, and he fell to the ground, retching. Greg zipped away, putting the gauntleted man between himself and the pyromaniac. 

"He must've pulsed out his forcefield around his hand. Nice move," Wolverine murmured to the others. 

A single blow flung the helmet off of the groundshaker, knocking him out in the process. Unfortunately, this gave the flamethrower a clear shot. 

Greg surrounded himself with a bubble of force. The flames washed across the outside, unable to get in. He would run out of air soon, though, so he tried to spot the pyromaniac through the fire. 

He flew up and over, pulling out of the grasp of the fire for a moment. Dropping the bubble, he dived and came around behind, smashing the valves of the flamethrower. But the fire didn't go out, and he found himself racing to stay ahead of a bird made out of flame. 

"I keep the flame going, you idiot! I just use the flamethrower to start it!" the blond man gloated. 

"Oh, is that how it works?" Greg spun and brought up his hands - suddenly a ball of force surrounded the flaming bird. It burned for a moment; then it sputtered, guttered, and faded away in the airtight sphere. 

The fire-wielder wasn't nearly as happy after that. He was still frantically trying to restart his flamethrower when a column of pure force sent him spinning into oblivion. 

Literally. As the last opponent fell, the scene faded and Greg was back in a bare-metal room. Rachel called from above over the intercom, "Why did you drop your shield? Couldn't you have trapped Pyro in a ball, too?" 

"I, uh, can't make disconnected shapes. I can make holes or bubbles in it, but it's all one field." 

------------

Greg had left a while ago. He hadn't said where he lived, and based on the speeds he could fly, it could have been a long way away. "An F-15 generates almost thirty tons of thrust, and moves at over Mach 2. I can pull a lot of thrust, I weigh over two hundred times less, and my cross-sectional area is way lower, so I get less drag. I really don't know how fast I can go," he'd explained. 

They compared impressions. "He lacks experience, but he's got a lot of potential," Scott judged. "I hope he comes back soon." 

"He said he would," Rogue objected. 

"I didn't say he wouldn't come back. But you've got to admit he was pretty secretive." 

"Chuck, when you 'talked' to him, he damn near had a heart attack. I really think he wanted to kill you," Logan said. "I was about ready to pop my claws." 

"While his thoughts are well-protected, his emotions came through quite clearly. I sensed it too," Xavier confirmed. "Overall, he didn't seem hostile, however; merely fearful." 

"Something must have scared him badly, once." Kurt could sympathize. His appearance had nearly been his death several times. Someone who looked like a demon was just going to have a hard life. 

"He fights pretty well. A little slow on the uptake sometimes, but like you said, he's inexperienced." Kitty was young, but also battle- hardened. 

"He learned some Tae Kwon Do somewhere," Logan said, "but I wouldn't put him above brown belt. At least, not in my dojo. And he's out of shape." This was a slight exaggeration. It was clear that Greg worked out, but there were Olympic athletes in worse shape than the X-Men. 

Peter noted, "I don't fully trust him. I was watching the medical monitors during the tests. He was holding back. He's stronger than he lets on." 

"Yeah, he was faking some. I could smell it." Logan's enhanced senses sometimes made him very hard to fool. 

"Well, y'all would be paranoid too!" Rogue cried. "Y'know how people are about mutants, and he doesn't know us from Adam!" 

"Rogue, relax," Storm told the young woman. "No one is saying he doesn't have his reasons, but bear in mind that we don't know much about him, either." 

"Ah never even told y'all my real name, and y'all took me in! You..." 

"He hasn't asked us to take him in," Scott interrupted. "Rogue, what's bothering you? You've been upset ever since we met him!" 

She glared at them for a moment, then barked, "Ah'm fine. Leave me alone." She got up and strode briskly toward the stairs. 

Rachel broke the silence. "I think I know what the problem is. Kitty, what did he say about his forcefield, how thick it is?" 

"Outside his skin, it's about a millimeter thick..." she began, then trailed off. "Of course. Nothing ever quite touches him. He's probably immune... Rogue, did he touch you?" 

Rogue froze for a moment, halfway out the door, then stormed up the stairs. Her mind was still hard to read, but no one needed any further confirmation. 

------------

Nimrod had suffered minimal damage in the battle, so self-repair was quickly accomplished. His Sentinel subordinates were all totaled, however, and that was irritating. Gathering the parts and the raw materials had been difficult. 

Most had come from a Stark, Inc. research lab. He was authorized to requisition anything he needed in his native time. He wasn't sure the authorization of a potential future government applied here; his legal software was quite limited. He had tried to minimize the criminal violations, if any. No one had been seriously hurt. 

And after all that, the Sentinels hadn't made much of a difference in combat. He couldn't build them flexible enough. If the unidentified mutant had not intervened, the probabilities were that only two to four of the mutants would have been eliminated. 

Worse, Nimrod's self-analysis had indicated that, despite all the combined information gathered from previous generations of Sentinels, he was inexperienced. He'd needed to learn the importance of not being outnumbered. He'd been taught the critical role that the unexpected played in combat. 

Therefore, a new strategy was indicated. He quickly reconsidered and rejected attacking the mutants at their headquarters, Xavier's school. As he had determined before, too many factors argued against it. The grounds had been overtaken relatively bloodlessly in 2002, but that was largely due to Professor Xavier's decision to surrender and appeal to the mercy of the attacking troops. (It had not saved him.) It was extremely improbable that a similar surrender would be offered to a nonhuman attacker. 

Most of the school's equipment had self-destructed, but enough had survived for analysis to be disquieting, even to Nimrod as he examined his records. Scientists were still puzzling over much of it, and some had seriously proposed that the mutants had somehow acquired non-terrestrial technology. Most unnerving had been the power source - a geothermal tap that went down for miles into the Earth's crust, capable of supplying the energy needs of a medium-sized city. How had such an excavation been accomplished covertly? What weapons might it be fueling? 

Besides, his records indicated that mutants and even humans could be capable of surprising feats when protecting or avenging loved ones, in particular juveniles. Data indicated that at least five adolescent mutants were resident at any given time. 

Reporting the mutants to contemporary authorities was not a reasonable option. They would try to apprehend the X-Men. Nimrod had been created to protect humans, not to put them in danger. All in all, the current policy of ambushing the mutants away from their base seemed the most promising. 

But some modifications were in order. He required more experience. He needed to minimize unanticipated factors during battle. And he had to avoid being outnumbered. He began a search process, incorporating the information he'd gathered about this time along with his own records, seeking a solution... 

------------

Rogue trusted Storm more, perhaps, than any other teammate. She had voluntarily offered to be absorbed to prove her friendship. After a sacrifice like that, and after seeing her personality from the inside, it was hard to stay angry at her. 

She had come in while Rogue sat weeping quietly in a chair in her room. She sat down on the floor with silent grace, placed her hand on the girl's knee, and waited patiently for her to be ready to speak. 

"Mah costume was torn. He grabbed me, to see if Ah was all right. And Ah freaked, but nothin' happened." 

After a moment, Storm prompted, "So he can touch you without fear." 

"Leastways, that once. But no reason to think it'll change." She looked away. "And now Ah don't know what to do about it." 

"What do you want to do?" 

"Ah don't know! What do Ah say? 'Excuse me, but you just happen to be one of the few people in the world Ah can touch?'" There had been others she hadn't affected. Cosmically-powered beings like the Asgardian god Loki; artificial beings like the Vision; and Wonder Man, who'd been mutated so much that biologically he really only looked human. None had ever been potential romantic pursuits. 

"Do you think he's attractive?" 

"Do you?" 

"Actually, yes," Storm replied. "A bit young for my taste, but nice." She smiled. 

"Me too, Ah guess. He ain't gonna be a model, but he's cute." She fell silent. 

"But..." Storm prompted. 

"But Ah'm afraid." 

"I understand. It is always terrifying. You have the normal uncertainties, of course - What if he is a fool? What if he is not attracted to you? Does he have a girlfriend, or is he married?" 

"Yeah. And in mah case..." she trailed off. 

"...are you really interested in him, or merely the potential he represents?" 

Tears sprung forth again, but she appreciated Storm's honesty, putting her own fears into words. "Ah can't be sure. Ah'd just about given up hope. Ah was wonderin' if Ah should ask Kurt 'bout becomin' a nun or somethin'." Despite herself, she chuckled at the thought. 

Storm laughed as well. "That would be something." 

"What if we did get together? Would Ah be so afraid of losing him that Ah'd let him walk all over me?" 

Storm smiled. "I doubt it. You are not the type." 

"So what do Ah do?" 

"I cannot decide that for you. But we will all support you, whatever you choose. I can say that this sort of thing is never easy, for anyone." 

Rogue looked pleadingly at Storm. "What would you do?" 

"I am really not sure. But I think..." she paused. "I think that if there were a chance, I would pursue it." 

------------

Greg descended, searching out Madison, Wisconsin. He slowed, and quickly released and reformed the bubble he was maintaining, renewing his pressurized air supply for the trip through the stratosphere. Things were hard to recognize from up here, but he'd had a lot of experience orienting himself by the lights of cities. _{There's Chicago, of course, so that's Milwaukee. Over to the west...}_

In a few minutes he was over his neighborhood. He dropped his speed further and curved down towards his apartment, withdrawing the bubble entirely. It had been a long day, and he had a lot to think about. 

He'd just about decided on the way back that he was being silly. If he couldn't trust the X-Men, who was he ever going to trust? He'd been badly frightened once before, but that had been on the other side of the world. 

_{That did teach me one thing, though. No way is Xavier getting into my head. Nobody messes with my mind. Private Property. Keep Out. Trust has its limits.}_ He landed in the woods next to the complex he lived in. Walking across the parking lot, he got out his keys and let himself into the building. He had homework due on Monday, but tomorrow would be time enough for that. 


	7. Basic Training

Chapter Six - "Basic Training"

Greg stopped by Sunday night, after dinner, and met the New Mutants, Xavier's junior students. He was noticeably more open, though he avoided getting close to Charles, and the psychics Karma and Mirage. It was pretty obvious he didn't believe that Illyana was a real sorceress, and the youngsters hastily escorted her away before she decided to prove otherwise in some unpleasant manner. 

Kitty inspected the biofeedback device with interest. It wasn't as sophisticated as the systems the X-Men had, but she declared it clever in its own way. They talked shop for a bit, and Greg admitted he was Gregory Holland, a junior at the University of Wisconsin, looking at getting a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering. 

"I'm just measuring the capacitance in this gap. My field is nearly a perfect insulator." 

"So you just put your finger here?" 

"Yeah. I practiced getting some control of my heartbeat and a few other things first. By then I had an idea about how to get in the right frame of mind." 

She half-jokingly tried to convince him to transfer to Xavier's school. "It's acreditted, and Xavier's well-known as a biologist. It's unusual enough to stick out on a resume. You'd have no problem going on to grad school." 

"I'm actually a lot more interested in the combat training," Greg replied. 

"That's not going to get you into a master's program!" Kurt joked. He wondered again what had made this young man so fearful. 

Rogue had been trying to figure out a way to interrupt, but she was glad Kurt saved her the trouble. Greg was paying way too much attention to Kitty. And she was on the rebound from Peter. 

Scott and Logan talked it over with him, and set up some sessions twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays when he didn't have afternoon classes. 

Rogue was still thoughtful, but seemed to be a bit more relaxed. She watched from an armchair in the den with amusement as he learned how foolish it was to play Cyclops at pool. Kurt was studying for one of Xavier's brutal physics exams in the other corner; Logan was reading a book on Japanese prehistory. The others had gone off on their own, some studying, some crowded around the videogames up in Roberto's room. 

During one of the short periods of Greg leaning on the wall while Scott ran the table, she came to a decision. Leaning forward, she said, "Good thing your girlfriend ain't around to see this." She'd raided Carol's memories for flirting tips; this was a bit clumsy, but she had to know. 

"I don't have one. She ran off with Minnesota Fats. That's my luck, with pool and women," he joked back. _{I'm pretty sure I'm being hit on. What the hell is her deal?}_

Scott finished the table, knocking three balls in with one shot. "Your break," he called, grinning. 

"You know, I think maybe I'll sit this game out." He was smiling ruefully, glad he hadn't accepted the offer of a bet. "Do you mind if I grab a pop or something?" 

"You want a soda?" Rogue asked. "C'mon, Ah'll show you where the kitchen is." 

"It's pop, dang it. Where are you from, you heathen?" Greg replied, mock-offended. _{Hmm, better tone it down just a bit. She really is spectacular. If only she weren't so weird...}_

Kurt and Logan exchanged glances as the two walked off, discussing the various virtues and failings of Yankees and southerners. Scott kept his eyes on the pool table. 

------------

Rogue was still nervous, but at least now it was mixed with a good deal of excitement as well. Now that she'd decided on a course of action, she felt better. Waiting for things was never her strong suit. Greg was on time for his Tuesday session, and some fairly unsubtle hints had arranged for her to be part of it. Things had gone okay Sunday night; she was mostly sure he didn't think of her as totally crazy. 

Scott was talking to Greg while she hovered on the far side of the Danger Room, doing some stretches. They had provided him with a costume made from unstable molecules; it was far tougher than his street clothes. 

"You'll probably understand the benefit of using codenames during combat. Unless you have a suggestion of your own, Xavier came up with 'Fortress' for you." 

"Not bad. I guess that's what my field is." he replied. The X-Men privately thought that the name suited his personality as well. He still avoided personal questions. 

"Today we'll work on airborne agility. Your job is to dodge what we throw at you. Your field is one heck of a defense, but why take punishment that you can avoid?" 

"Makes sense. Any other rules?" _{I hope she finishes her warm-up soon; it's distracting. She's in excellent shape.}_

"Of course there are." Scott smiled evilly. "You can't attack at all, and you aren't allowed to extend your field. Flying only." He walked out the door, shutting it behind him. 

He turned and scanned the bare room. Rogue had finished up and was off to one side, waiting for Scott to get to the booth. Lacking anything else to do, he floated to the center of the room, glancing around, trying to decide what to expect. "I take it you're one of the dangers I'm gonna be up against?" 

"Yup. But not at first. Ah'm the advanced part of the course." She grinned wickedly. Noticing that Scott had reached the booth, she added quickly, "By the way, your shoe's untied." 

"Huh?" He stared at her, not his boots, which had no laces. _{I'm not going to fall for that one!}_

Thus, the jet of water caught him full force in the back. She laughed for a moment, then wondered if the joke had been wise on someone with such issues about trust. _{It was worth it! Look at his face!}_ she finally decided. Her laugh rejoined Scott's. 

"Fortress" had flipped over from where he'd sprawled in the corner, dripping. He was furious and soaked. "No fair!" he cried. "I wasn't ready!" 

"I'm sure Nimrod will tap you on the shoulder the next time he sneaks up on you," Scott replied, not cowed in the least. Greg had to admit to himself that they were right. _{Come to think of it...}_

He launched himself out of the corner just ahead of a low-power energy blast. "That's better!" Cyclops called down. The young man wasn't stupid enough to get tagged the same way twice. But they'd just begun. 

The next hour pointed out several of Fortress' strengths and weaknesses. He could accelerate extremely rapidly, and because of his field, experienced only a fraction of the forces involved. He didn't get dizzy easily. But in a relatively confined space like the Danger Room, he wasn't terribly maneuverable. Rogue judged that that would improve with practice. 

Greg was untangling himself from a net he hadn't quite avoided when Scott signaled that it was her turn, and fired up the program they had worked out beforehand. An aerial maze appeared overhead, made of tubes, rings, bars, cables, and even some flaming hoops. "Okay, sugar, let's hurry it up. It's time for phase two," she called down lightly. 

"So what's up?" he asked, floating up to join her. "I have to get through that?" 

"Sure. In thirty seconds." 

"Oh, come on! That's..." he trailed to a halt as she streaked into motion. Gracefully whipping around, over, and through the obstacles, she rejoined him twenty seconds later. 

"You're new, so you get an extra ten seconds," she told the dumbfounded mutant. "Whatcha waitin' for? Let's go!" 

Greg never got below forty seconds that day, but after a few tries he could make it through without hitting anything. That's when Rogue started to run interference. She seemed to know just where he was going to be, and have a well-placed foot or backhand in the right place to trip him up. Once he forgot the rules and swung at her, but again she simply ducked. He apologized quickly. 

"Sorry, really. I was just getting frustrated." 

Rogue saw an opportunity. "That's no way to treat a lady, sir. You'll need to apologize better'n that." 

She was smiling, so Greg didn't think she was severely offended. "I was just..." 

"Not like that. You Yankees - y'all got no class. Ah want flowers, maybe dinner somewhere nice. How's Saturday for you?" 

"Uh... fine, I guess." _{What am I getting myself into?}_

"All right then. Pick me up at six, 'kay? Dress nice." Carol had been an ardent feminist, and her flirting style tended to be aggressive. It wasn't a typical southern belle approach, but Rogue thought that maybe it was just the method she needed. "Now, one more time, from the beginnin'..." 

------------

Sparring with Wolverine was another humbling experience. The man was so ridiculously fast! He'd say "Go!" and land three blows before Greg could even get his guard up. He wasn't gentle about it, either. About the only good thing was that he didn't think Fortress was ready for the claws yet. Privately, Greg had to agree. 

Fortress got up from the floor again, straightening his white-belted gee. "What the heck did you just trip me with? You were in front of me!" 

"Why weren't you ready for it? You were too extended. You practically invited me to loop out my leg." He sounded personally insulted by the young man's incompetence. 

Greg buckled down again. If it weren't for his forcefield, he'd have had a diverse collection of disabling or fatal injuries. As it was, he'd be sore tomorrow. He hadn't had a workout like this in a long time. He was panting like a dog in the tropics; Logan hadn't seemed to have broken a sweat. 

It wasn't Greg's idea of the best way to spend a Friday afternoon. Circling cautiously, Wolverine brought up his hands in a defensive position. "I hear Rogue's taken a shine to you." 

"Yeah, I guess," he replied, lashing out with a fist. He wasn't using his full strength for this, though for all the success he was having landing a blow, it wouldn't have mattered. 

Logan easily dodged the punch, and brought his elbow down on Greg's forearm in a move that would have shattered bones in a normal case. Greg simply felt embarrassed. He was trying, dammit! 

"Got a date tomorrow, right?" Logan asked, simultaneously executing a vicious uppercut. Greg jerked his head back and it missed. He felt pride for an instant; that was only the third blow he'd managed to dodge or block this whole match. Then the kick took him directly in the stomach. 

He collected himself from off the wall. He'd been thrown six feet! How could the little shrimp be that strong? "Yup. Gonna get dinner, maybe catch a show," he panted, charging forward. He had a plan. 

Logan said, "One piece of advice..." and slid to the side, escaping the roundhouse Fortress threw. But Greg had expected that, and immediately whirled into a back kick. Wolverine dodged that too, but Greg had thrown a jab where he thought his opponent would be. 

Somehow Wolverine grabbed his arm and whipped him onto the floor. "...we all like her a lot. Don't toy with her." He had Fortress in an aikido hold, twisting his arm behind his back in a very uncomfortable position. It was surprisingly effective. Greg thought that with his full strength he could break free, but that was against the rules. 

"I'm not sayin' it has to work out, but if it doesn't, let her down real easy, eh?" It wasn't quite a threat. But Greg didn't think it was just a bit of friendly advice, either. 

"Got it. I'm not some kind of schmuck." Logan let him up. 

"That's enough for today. Good combination, by the way. Just make it faster next time." His sensei bowed, and Greg hurriedly mirrored the move. Logan walked off toward the showers. 

_{What exactly what that about?}_ Greg pondered. Yet again, he wondered just what their date was going to be like. 


	8. A Very Important Date

Chapter Seven - "A Very Important Date"

Fortress arced over Breakstone Lake and made a smooth landing on the front porch of the mansion. He'd had a busy week arranging for a date. Rogue was intriguing (among other things) and he wanted to do things right. He'd dug out his only suit - fortunately it was actually a rather nice one, a conservative dark blue, classically styled. It was also in good shape, having been worn for just two family weddings. 

He was a fairly typical starving student, but he was prepared to dip into his savings a bit for this, and he wasn't totally incapable of romance. He'd made what he thought were pretty good arrangements. A nice restaurant, show tickets, and - of course - flowers. 

It had been hard for him to find dates. Close physical contact could be risky - they might detect his field, and he couldn't keep it off indefinitely. It was hard to judge who he could trust without getting to know them. The problem was, that was what dating was for. He had several female friends, but hadn't had romantic prospects in a while. 

The notion of dating someone that he didn't have to hide from was new and exciting. The fact that she was also quite attractive was very tasty icing on the cake. _{Of course, it would be nice to know just what her angle is. Or maybe just her real name,}_ he thought ruefully. 

He rang the bell, and waited for a bit. He was slightly early. Rachel opened the door. "Well, well, don't you look nice." _{Rogue, your date's here!}_ she telepathically called. 

"Thanks," he said, stepping into the hall. He tried to look calm and confident. Rachel didn't need to probe deeply to feel how tense he really was. 

"What kind of flowers are those?" She asked, taking some pity and trying to distract him. She hadn't had a lot of practice with small talk, with the life she'd led, but she was learning. Just then Dani and Rahne passed by, glancing and giggling, spoiling her efforts. Gossip had been rampant all over the school. 

"Roses, of course, and Magnolias: the state flower of Mississippi," he replied, outwardly unperturbed. "Rogue said she was from there." 

"Clever. They really look nice." _{Rogue, honey, you may have a keeper here.}_

"Thanks." 

"I'm afraid she isn't quite ready yet. Do you mind waiting in the den? Can I get you something?" 

------------

Rogue judged that she'd kept him waiting long enough. She was certainly tired of waiting; she was so excited she'd barely gotten any sleep last night. Her whole day had been spent preparing. Several of the X-Women had offered plenty of help with her clothes and hair. Kurt had been happy to provide a male opinion when required. It was almost like a normal first date. 

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she descended the stairs, leaving Ororo and Kurt behind. Carol thought she was making too much of a production of things, but Rogue was proudly Southern, and courtship was important to her. 

Most of the mansion was tuned into Rachel's "psi-cast" of the scene, seeing through her eyes as Rogue entered the den where she and Greg stood chatting. Her auburn hair was up in a dramatic mane, the white streak prominent; she wore a red dress, with a ruffled skirt that ended mid-calf, and long red evening gloves. High-heeled black shoes went well with her black tights. The matching pearl necklace and bracelet (a surprising gift from Logan last Christmas) completed the ensemble. 

Greg was impressed. Rachel couldn't resist passing along his appreciation to Rogue, who felt a surge of confidence. She liked Greg's tie; the blue matched his suit and the green set off his eyes. 

"Wow," he breathed, "I need to apologize more often. You look wonderful." 

"Thank you, suh," she smiled, nodding her head, laying her accent on thick. 

"These are for you, m'lady." He presented the flowers with a flourish. "A small token of my regret for the prior inconvenience I caused." 

"Why, thank you! Roses and Magnolias, how thoughtful!" She herself hadn't known they were the state flower until Rachel passed it along quietly. They did look good together. 

"Our reservations aren't for forty minutes or so. I hope you don't mind flying, but I wanted to get an early start tonight." 

She was horrified. "Mah hair! Mah clothes!" _{Didn't he think to hire a taxi or something?}_

"Don't worry!" he grinned. "I think I can guarantee a wind-free journey." 

------------

A bubble of force had indeed kept them immaculate on their trip into the city. They landed discreetly in an alley and emerged onto a busy sidewalk. Greg had known of an upscale French restaurant from previous journeys and they were seated promptly. He was surprised when she rattled off her order in fluent French. 

"I barely remember my high-school French. Lemme see... 'Est-ce que vraiment un moto? Quelle taille avez votre dentiste? Il y a un poisson dans votre bibliotheque!'" 

She laughed aloud. (He'd said, more-or-less correctly, 'Is that really a motorcycle? What size does your dentist wear? There is a fish in your library!') "Useful phrases, all. You'll go far with those." 

"Yeah, I'm ready for Paris," he agreed. "Speaking of which, that's where we're going tonight, in a manner of speaking. I called in a favor and got us some tickets for Les Miserables." 

"Really?" With the life they led, the X-Men didn't often have time for things like plays. "Isn't that a little pricey? Ah know you're on a budget and all," she teased, alluding to their low-cost, high-altitude voyage to the restaurant. 

"I once helped a guy move here. He owed me, and he works at the theater." 

"You get here pretty often for a guy from Wisconsin." 

"I've been lots of places," he said evasively. "I guess I have my own private supersonic jet." 

Rogue was enjoying things too much to press him. "Ah once flew all the way from Japan, but Ah was bushed when I got in." 

"I've been there, too, but I didn't take it in one go. I stopped off in Hawaii, spent a couple days there. It's expensive." The conversation moved on to more mundane topics; movies, music, and so on. Rogue relaxed, pretending she was just an ordinary girl with an ordinary suitor. 

------------

There was a bit of awkwardness when they got to the theater. Greg asked at the booth, and the ticket-taker paged his friend. Carl proved to be a tall man in his late twenties, who escorted them inside. 

"Well," Carl exclaimed as he led them to their seats, "if I'd known you had a date like this in mind, I'd have negotiated better. Who is this ravishing creature?" 

Rogue paused, but Greg stepped in quickly, "Lisa Haselby, a friend from back home. She's attending a private school here, but I couldn't let her get away so easily." 

"I can see why. Charmed, milady Lisa!" He held her gloved hand for a moment as he waved to their seats. Rogue had a suspicion about where Greg might have learned some courtship. 

"Front row! Why, this is wonderful!" Rogue was eager to move the subject from her name. 

"You sure you couldn't cough up thirty more bucks?" Carl asked Greg, smiling. "Isn't she worth it?" 

"I saved you ten times that moving your piano crosstown!" Greg objected. 

"And someday you'll have to tell me how you did it. But later, I need to get backstage and set up some props. You kids have fun! It's a great show." A bit of the entertainer's pride was evident in his tone. 

As they sat down, Rogue murmured, "Thanks for coverin' back there." 

Greg's smile was a bit labored. "No problem. I really did know a Lisa Haselby, but I have no idea where she is." He paused. "Any chance you might save me the trouble next time, and tell me your real name?" 

"A girl's got to save something for future dates," she said, mock-seriously. 

"Oh, well." Greg frowned for a second. Then, attempting to move on, he said, "They do a pretty fair job with the stage and props here. The whole thing can rotate..." 

------------

Greg and Rogue sat on the ledge of her favorite building, looking out over the brightly lit city below. The wind would have frozen most people, but they hardly noticed. 

He was talking about the first time he flew. "I'd levitated a few times in my room, and I had to see if I could do it. I biked off, deep into the woods. I just lifted off, and cruised for a while above the trees. It was incredible. I felt so... free, so alive. It was hard to come back down." 

"Ah know what you mean. There's nothin' quite like flyin' up in the clouds, feelin' the wind, lookin' down at the ground so far below..." She sighed. "Makes up for some of the problems," she said quietly. 

"I know," he misunderstood. "It'd be easier to be normal, but giving that up... I don't think I could do it." He glanced at her, and grinned. "At least you meet some interesting people." He put an arm around her shoulder, carefully. She didn't brush it off. 

"That's a fact." Slowly she leaned into him, trying to keep her breathing steady. He'd been a perfect gentleman all night, and she'd wondered if something like this was going to happen at all. There wasn't time to take off her gloves... 

He turned his head to hers. Carefully, giving her a chance to react, he bent forward, but she turned to meet him. The kiss was gentle, almost formal. It lasted a few seconds, then he moved back, looking at her appraisingly. 

Rogue's heart was pounding; it was different than she'd thought, both less and more than she'd expected. Carol thought it hadn't measured up to some she'd had, but Rogue pushed her away and concentrated on the moment. She brought her hand up and touched his face. She couldn't sense the field through her glove; she'd barely noticed a hint of it with her lips. 

The second kiss was a bit more urgent, but still tentative. Neither Greg nor Rogue wanted to lose control, for their own reasons. Rogue thought about that for a moment; warring with herself. Finally she decided to go ahead. 

When they broke apart, Rogue pulled back, out of his arms, and turned herself to face him directly. She could see that he realized something was up, and was waiting for her to speak. She took his hands in her own. 

"Ah have to tell you somethin'. It's important, and you should know what you're gettin' into." He frowned, and she could see him tense up. "Ah didn't tell you all about mah powers. There's somethin' else." 

"Ah'm strong, and Ah can fly, but that's not mah mutant power. Those're someone else's powers." She waited, giving him a chance to absorb that. 

"I don't understand. You're not you?" He was confused, and starting to get worried. "Phoenix telekinetically makes you fly? What do you mean?" 

"When Ah touch someone, Ah absorb their powers, Ah can do what they do." 

Greg was now very worried; she'd already touched him, though, so it probably couldn't make it any worse to stay. He waited for her to continue, making plans for an escape in the back of his mind. 

"There's more. Ah get their memories, emotions, everythin'. Ah get all of them. They pass out. But it's only for a while, then it goes away and they wake up." 

He jerked his hands back. "So now you know all about me?" He was getting angry, now, too. He tensed, ready to lash out or flee. 

"No, Ah said, they pass out. You're still awake, right?" She could see that this wasn't going well. 

He relaxed infinitesimally. That was true. Then he thought again. "Of course, you never told me about this before. Maybe you're making that part up." 

"Ah'm not! Besides, Ah can't affect you anyways! Ah knew that right when we met!" 

Greg thought for a moment, then got it. "I was trying to help you, and you tried to suck out my brains even then?!" He was furious. He'd been starting to like her! He stood up, trying to decide if he should attack or just run. 

"No! Ah didn't try anythin'! Ah can't control it! You touched me! Ah didn't have a choice! But your field protected you!" She stood up herself, yelling, trying to get him to understand. 

He stopped, turned to face her as her tears started to flow. "Wait a minute. You've been flying since we met. How long does it last? Who's been in a coma for over a week?" he snarled. 

"Ah absorbed Ms. Marvel permanently. It was an accident; Ah still don't know why it happened! Would you please just listen to me!" She was sobbing, pleading. 

Greg waited, glaring at her. "Okay. Fine. Go on," he spat. 

"Ah can't control it. If Ah touch someone, Ah absorb them, for a few seconds or minutes. Then it fades. They wake up. Ah still don't know why it was permanent with her. Ah wish Ah did. Ah can't control it. But it didn't work on you." She trailed off, realizing she was babbling. 

Greg was silent for quite a while, glaring at her. Eventually, he asked, "So, what was all this? You wanted to see if more intimate contact would work?" 

"No! Ah just... Ah... Ah just wanted to go on a date! With a guy Ah could kiss! With someone who didn't have to be afraid of me!" 

"So you don't care about me at all, huh? I'm just an experiment, right?" He lifted up, getting ready to fly away. 

Rogue got angry. "You idiot! Why can't you listen? Ah didn't want to hurt you! Ah wasn't usin' you, Ah really wanted to get to know you! You actually seemed like a decent guy, once!" 

Greg floated further away. "Sure. How can I believe that?" He turned away. 

"Dammit, why can't you trust me, even a little?! What the hell made you so paranoid!?!" 

Fortress stopped in mid-flight. He spun around, and zipped back in front of her. He landed so hard the roof shook a little. She fell back, seeing the rage in his face. 

"You want to know why I'm so 'paranoid'? You want to know why I don't trust anybody? Fine, you want it, you got it!" 

He took a deep breath, let it out. "You ever hear of a little island republic called Genosha?" 


	9. Nice From Far, But Far From Nice

Chapter Eight - "Nice From Far, But Far From Nice"

Rogue thought for a moment. "Genosha. Isn't that in the Indian Ocean somewhere?" she asked, tentatively. 

"Yeah. Don't go there. You wouldn't like it." He looked away. 

"When I graduated from high school, that summer I took a month off," he began. "I had my powers, and I decided to tour the world. I flew down to South America, and explored the Amazon rainforest. Camping out in the wild is fun when you don't have to worry about insect bites or broken bones or anything." 

"After that I went to Africa, saw the veldt, the Sahara, the jungles. A day here, a couple days there. I stayed away from the cities, mostly. No passport, y'know, and I didn't need the hassle. I moved on to India, camped out for a few days." 

"I spent some time flying over the ocean, just enjoying going fast. One day I spotted somebody trying to follow me. I wasn't as 'paranoid' then," he glared at her, "so I waited for them to catch up, and it turned out there were three of them." 

"They said they were from Genosha, and they'd spotted me on radar the day before. They wanted to invite me to see the place. They said there were lots of mutants, and they didn't have to live in fear there." 

"Of course I was curious, and I figured nobody there knew who I was, or how to find me. So, what the heck, I followed them down. We landed outside a really large building, and they led me in. I wish I'd paid more attention to the armed guards, but I figured I could handle them, and besides, the mutants said it was safe. Like I said, I was naive." 

_{There's a middle ground between paranoid and naive,}_ Rogue thought, but she kept quiet and let him talk. 

"One of them went off, and the others took me into a conference room. They said they wanted me to meet someone, and smiled at each other. I wish I'd thought about that more, too. After a minute this older guy walks in." 

"One of them says, 'Here, meet Wipeout.' I was, like, 'Why are you called that?'" 

"He went, 'Because I wipe out powers.' I didn't understand. Then there was a bright flash of light and I passed out." 

"The next thing I knew, I was in a cave. I didn't know how I got there, but I knew there was an angry bear in the cave with me; I had to get out. Then it was in front of me; I turned and ran, but the ground melted and I was falling. I landed, and I was in some kind of machine, pinned in some gears that were trying to grind me up. I pushed, and pulled, but I couldn't get out. I could see the bear, but it was also a man, and he was running the controls." 

"I'd gotten interested in dreams before, when I was researching biofeedback, and I'd learned how to have a lucid dream. I realized that this was some kind of dream. I fought my way out of the machine, and then the guy was a bear again, and he was squeezing me. I was terrified; I knew it was a dream, but it didn't feel like any dream I'd had. But I fought, and fought, and finally I managed to wake up." 

"I was strapped onto a table, in a dark room. There was a man, looming over me, with a helmet on his head, and wires coming out of it. He was surprised I was awake, and he was angry. And I could still feel him in my mind! He was trying to break me down, brainwash me. It was awful. I guess maybe rape feels like that." 

Rogue was beginning to understand Greg's fear of Xavier. From his description, she recognized a psychic assault. She had fought mental battles before, especially when she absorbed people. Sometimes she lost; it was a horrible feeling. 

"I tried to sit up, but the straps held. I looked, and they were just metal. I was fighting to stay awake, but I didn't think they looked that strong. I realized I had a helmet on, too." 

"The guy's eyes got big when I pushed the helmet off with my field. He turned and hit a switch, and there were alarms going off. I focused my field as best I could and cut the straps. I could tell something was wrong. It was too hard." 

"I sat up, and the guy was staring at me. I wasn't sleepy anymore, but I could still feel him in my head! It wasn't as strong, but I was terrified. I jumped him, and I hit him as hard as I could." 

"He went flying, but I realized that I was weak. I had maybe a tenth of my normal strength. And then I saw another guy, a security guard in a weird uniform. I slugged him, too, but he didn't fall. He just laughed and knocked me across the room." 

"He was way stronger and tougher than me; at least, weak as I was. So I flew to the door - even that was hard. But it was solid metal, and it was locked. The guard grabbed me from behind and threw me again." 

"What did you do?" Rogue asked, fascinated and appalled. 

"He couldn't fly. I had better leverage, so I killed two birds with one stone. I picked him up and used him as a battering ram on the door." 

Rogue was shocked speechless. 

Greg glared back. "He lived. At least, I think he did. I wasn't exactly in the mood to be charitable. It took a few hits, but finally the door went down. So did he." 

"Outside there were more guards, weird weapons, more alarms. I used my guard as a shield and flew over them, and ducked around a corner. They were shocked; I don't think they expected me to have any powers at all. Then I got lucky." 

"Right in front of me, Wipeout was running up the hall. I guess he was responding to the alarm. I remembered what he'd said, and figured he must've zapped my powers. I dropped the guard, picked up Wipeout, punched him in the stomach, and busted out a window with him." 

"We were maybe forty stories up, by that building. I kept going, heading around another corner, and saw what I needed. There were a bunch of spikes sticking up out of a tower. I don't know what they were, maybe antennas or radiators or something." 

"Anyway, I got us over them, as he started to recover. I made him look down, so he could see that if he zapped me again, we'd both fall onto the spikes. He was scared, I could see it. I grabbed him by the throat and said, 'Fix me, now, or I'll drop you!'" 

"He was choking, and panicked, but he finally got it. He waved his hand at me, and there was a flash of light, and suddenly I was back to normal." 

"I wanted to kill him, but by then there were ships and those flying people coming at me. So I hit him in the head, hard. He went out like a light, and then I threw him at one of the flyers. She had to catch him. Another flyer got close, and I kicked him just as hard as I could. I don't know if I killed him; I do know I broke ribs." He seemed very satisfied with that. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes. 

"I was furious, and terrified. Everyone was shooting at me, and there were more coming every second. I would've leveled that whole damn island, but I figured if they had one guy who could mess me up, they might have more. So I bugged out. They couldn't keep up with me. I was going full blast. I must've been halfway across Australia before I calmed down at all." 

He stopped. He was tired, and he'd worked off some of his anger. But not all of it. "So, 'sugar'," he asked, his voice dripping sarcasm, "do you understand why I'm not so inclined to trust you?" 

Rogue looked away. "Yeah, Ah guess Ah do." Then she looked him in the eye. "But Ah didn't do any of that. Ah wouldn't even if Ah could. Your field helped protect you from Wipeout, Ah guess. It protects you from me all the way. You're safe from me." 

"Which makes me really convenient." His vicious tone bit into her, but she was done crying. 

"Damn you. Ah thought you were better than this. You can't imagine what it's like to never be able to touch anybody. Ah'm not going to apologize for bein' interested in you because of that. But that wasn't all of it. You seemed like an okay guy. You helped us out. You were polite and funny. Ah wanted to know more about you." 

She turned away, tired and saddened. "But y'know, maybe you're not so different. Ah can't let anyone touch me. But you, you're just too scared. Ah'm sorry Ah had the courage to reach out to you. You ain't worth it." 

Greg just stood there, openmouthed. 

"See you around." She took off, heading back toward the mansion. Later there would be more tears, she knew, but right now she didn't have it in her. 

------------

Rogue curved towards Westchester County and the mansion. _{At least he had one thing right. It is beautiful up here.}_ For a while she just enjoyed the night sky, deliberately not thinking about anything but the clouds illuminated by moonlight. 

Something swooped up beside her, a dozen yards away. She whirled around, bringing up her fists, but it was Fortress, with his hands up in another 'don't hurt me' pose. 

They slowed down, until they could hear each other speak. Greg looked abashed. 

"Earlier I said I was going to have to apologize more often. I didn't think I'd be doing it this soon. I'm sorry I freaked out on you. I'm sorry I accused you of using me. You did not deserve that. And I humbly ask for a chance to make it up to you." 

"Can Ah trust you?" Rogue asked, staring at him levelly. "Will you give this a fair chance?" 

"I promise. I won't back down." He looked her in the eye. "I was really looking forward to a second date. And I'll make sure our third date isn't another apology." 

When they landed at the mansion, they were holding hands. Gingerly, but they were holding hands. 

------------

Magneto grunted as the blast seared across the chamber, nearly buckling the protective field he was maintaining. This Monday had gotten very, very bad; and it had done so very, very quickly. 

He had been at work in his laboratory, developing a microwave pulse weapon that he could arm troops with. There had been a sudden asteroid- quake, and he'd felt the unmistakable drop in air pressure that signaled a hole in the integrity of the space station. 

His warning sensors hadn't tracked any nearby debris, or there would have been alarms. He'd raced to investigate, grabbing an air mask on the way to the breach. 

What he'd found had been horrifying. He recognized Nimrod instantly from the news reports he'd intercepted of the X-Men's recent battle. Poor Lorelei's power to enchant people with her singing had been useless against the robot. She was dead, and Magneto tried to avoid looking at what was left of her. 

He'd only barely been able to yank Unus out of the way; his repulsion field had nearly failed by the time Magneto arrived. Toad was applying first aid in the hall, trying to get another air mask for Unus, while Magneto lashed out at Nimrod and repaired the hole in the wall. 

He wasn't having much of an effect. The Sentinel didn't seem to contain any magnetic material that Magneto could get a hold of with his power. The robot's weapons appeared highly tuned to Magneto's weaknesses. His shield was getting progressively less effective. 

Fortunately, he had some advantages here. He reached out to the malleable iron ore that pervaded the asteroid, and slammed two huge chunks of it together on opposite sides of the robot with extreme force. 

Nimrod had determined from contemporary records that Magneto was as great a threat to humanity in this timeline as in his native one. Records from his future time had listed the existence and orbit of Asteroid M - it had been captured by Sentinels in 2008. His advanced stealth capabilities had allowed him to approach it undetected. While the asteroid contained advanced technology, its primary defenses rested with Magneto's own powers. 

Magneto was one of the most studied (and most fought) mutants of the 21st century. Nimrod had detailed files on his abilities, skills, strengths, weaknesses, tactics, and psychology. He was confident that he could defeat the powerful mutant handily. No juveniles were present and Magneto was not likely to be overwhelmed with passion in any case. 

As he had judged, the two chunks of iron ore, even reinforced by Magneto's power, were not sufficient to do more than cosmetic damage. He lashed out with a neutral particle beam, which would be harder for Magneto to repel. 

Indeed, Magneto was not able to entirely shield himself from the beam, and only his reinforced costume protected him from serious injury. He came to a quick decision, and implemented it just as quickly. 

It was terribly inefficient, but Magneto could generate gravitons when he had to. He focused his power, pulsed energy in front of himself with a supreme effort, and released it in a rush at Nimrod. 

A powerful gravity wave slammed into Nimrod, who was not adequately prepared. It carried him with savage force, flexing important internal connections, finally crashing him with stunning force into the far wall of the chamber. Nimrod was momentarily disoriented. 

Magneto was half-exhausted, and he could see that the robot was not damaged severely enough to risk pressing the assault. He ripped the substance of the asteroid apart, embedding Nimrod in a metal sphere a dozen feet thick. 

He whirled swiftly and lurched out into the hall. "Come with me! We are leaving!" he barked to the two shocked mutants. 

"But... Lorelei..." Unus and Lorelei had been lovers for over a year. 

"She is dead; and so shall we be if we do not retreat now!" He sympathized with Unus; he himself had lost many people he'd loved. But, unwilling to waste more time, he grabbed them both in a magnetic field and propelled them to the far side of the station. 

They quickly seated themselves in the single transport ship, and Magneto added his own power's force to the ship's engines as they fled from the station at full thrust. All three groaned at the acceleration. 

Nimrod finished melting out of the steel prison, and took stock. He detected the ship vectoring at full acceleration for Earth. It was not yet out of range. He calculated for a moment, weighing options. 

Ultimately he decided not to waste more energy. He had achieved his key objectives, and things were proceeding more-or-less according to plan... 


	10. Guest Account

Chapter Nine - "Guest Account"

Wednesday night found Rogue and Fortress on their second date. It was at the same time more tense, and more relaxed. They kept things simple and casual, preferring a quiet night out. 

They were eating at Rogue's favorite pizzeria in Salem Center. They had split the pizza; Greg was appalled at the wide collection of toppings she ordered. He'd loudly insisted that the only true pizza was the pepperoni pizza; an emergency substitute was Italian sausage. 

The conversation stayed neutral, particularly since they were in a restaurant; talking openly about X-Men-related topics would have been foolish. Though well-educated at Xavier's school, Rogue had never attended a regular college, and asked a lot of questions about it. 

"Well, the dorms are about as crazy as you'd think. I mean, everyone's away from home for the first time, in a totally new environment, and out of their parents' shadows. Things get a little wild, but it's easy to make friends. When my dad was helping me move in, he took one look at the elevator and said, 'Monkeys would be harder on equipment than college students, but only 'cause they're stronger.'" 

She laughed aloud. "Well, what do you consider crazy?" 

"Lots of practical jokes. You never know what you'll see coming around the corner sometimes. The med students are scary. They have access to stuff that ordinary people don't. If someone gets too drunk at a party, they're liable to wake up with a cast on their arm, and they won't find out for a week that they didn't break a bone. And then there was the guy who got drunk, wrapped himself in the fire hose, and ran down the hall shouting, 'I'm linguine! I'm linguine!'" 

Again she burst out laughing. "What about classes?" 

"Freshman year is bad; lots of cattle classes. You barely meet the professor half the time. It gets better as you go along." 

"Ah just get tutored by the Prof. Sometimes Hank McCoy comes and teaches a special class or two - math, chemistry. Logan's a history buff. We get to do special projects and topics as long as we do the basics." 

"What's your special project?" 

"Aerospace, mostly. You should see the jet we have. Ah'll show you Friday, if you want. It's really sweet. Do y'all have that at UW?" 

"Not really. That's grad school stuff. I don't get a lot of electives; engineering's a pretty full schedule by itself. I do know a guy, he got a great graduation present - he didn't have to graduate. He got to take a term of whatever he wanted." 

"Wow. That is great." An ordinary conversation. Rogue tried to remember the last time she'd had one. 

------------

Afterward, they flew into the city, and went to a nightclub Rogue had heard Dazzler mention once, long ago. There was a short wait to get in, but soon they were on the dance floor. 

They moved close to the speakers. With their powers, they didn't have to worry about ear damage, though they couldn't hear each other over the music. That was just fine with Rogue; she wanted to dance and think. 

Greg turned out to be a fair dancer; nothing spectacular, but then, he hadn't trained at Stevie Hunter's dance studio. _{At least he wasn't embarrassed to get out on the floor, like some guys,}_ Rogue thought. 

As they jumped and twisted, she thought about how the week had gone. Greg had left Saturday after they got back to the mansion. Everyone had been very curious to find out what had happened, but Rogue had given them only an edited version. She was a fairly private person, and knew Greg was, too. 

However, she was done withholding important information. She had relayed the story about Genosha, and the team was very disturbed. As Logan put it, "They just made it to the top of my 'To Do' list." They decided to plan an exploratory mission to see what was going on there. It also helped the rest of the team put Fortress' behavior in perspective. 

Greg had showed up for his Tuesday session, and Rogue had, after a bit of deliberation, decided to attend. They reviewed flying a bit, but then moved on to strength, and control thereof. He was a lot more candid about his real strength level. He wasn't as strong as Colossus, but the margin was smaller than the X-Men had expected. 

They'd practiced switching rapidly from lifting 50-ton weights to handling eggshells and glassware. It was hard to regulate a dynamic range like that, and Fortress had a lot of trouble, but again, he'd improve with practice. 

The music slowed, and they easily moved together, arms around each other. This was still a thrill, and Greg hadn't pushed things, even knowing how vulnerable she was in that regard. She respected him for that. Some guys would have taken advantage of her. 

She leaned her head up and kissed him. He kissed back. She thought for a moment. _{What the heck.}_ She slipped him the tongue. He didn't collapse. _{Apparently the inside of his mouth is protected too,}_ Carol noted. Rogue told her to shut up. 

He was surprised for a moment, but he rallied gamely and returned the favor. He slid a hand down her back, gently cupping a buttock. Rogue was learning at a furious pace, when suddenly she heard Rachel's voice in her mind. _{Rogue, get back here now!}_

She jerked. Greg pulled back quickly, confused; he'd obviously not received any psi-cast. _{Probably a good thing,}_ Rogue thought. _{Rachel, what's up? Can't it wait?}_ Despite her relative immunity from psi-probes, telepaths could "hear" her when she cast her thoughts specifically. Her eyes widened as Rachel filled her in. 

She pulled him away from the speakers, toward the exit. "What's up?" he asked, apprehensively. "I hope I didn't..." 

"Sorry, it's nothin' to do with you. Ah just got called; we have to get back to the mansion, right now." 

Greg followed her out the exit, and hurried after her as she jogged toward the alley. "Why? What's going on?" 

"Magneto just popped in for a visit." 

------------

When they arrived, a very tense situation was brewing in the den. Magneto sat across from Xavier. Unus and Toad stayed behind him, glancing suspiciously all around. The X-Men were clearly primed for combat. Rogue and Fortress entered quietly and slowly. 

"I have given my word that I will honor a truce until this situation is resolved. What more can you ask?" Magneto was saying. 

"I require your assurance that the truce will not be broken without, say, 24 hours notice. We will not help you, only to find you at our throats." 

"Very well, Charles, though I'd hoped for better from you." Greg realized the two men knew each other. 

"Fine. Now, explain the situation again, for the benefit of the newcomers." 

Magneto glanced at Rogue, and particularly at Greg. Fortress got the distinct impression that he was being evaluated in roughly the same way that a lion evaluates a gazelle. 

"I will summarize. Two days ago, Nimrod attacked us at Asteroid M. We had no warning whatsoever. He killed Lorelei. I fought him, but he was well-prepared. We were forced to flee. We've spent the last 48 hours returning to Earth." 

"And you came here why?" Logan's voice held no expression at all. He seemed very calm, but the X-Men knew that actually meant that he was ready to spring into action at any instant. 

"I propose that we join forces. Nimrod is a threat to us all. He must be eliminated." 

Scott had been thinking. "He's setting up a trap, of course. It's actually a clever move. The last time we faced him, we might have been in real trouble if Fortress here hadn't shown up. At Asteroid M, there's little chance of another stranger stopping by." 

"He also has access to all Magneto's technology and a great supply of raw materials," Shadowcat broke in. "He's going to be building more Sentinels." 

"Then it is even more imperative that we cooperate. We cannot afford him the opportunity to create more like himself." Magneto paused. "You seem to know more about Nimrod than I would have expected. Where is he from? Who built him?" 

There was an awkward pause. Then Rachel stepped forward. "I suppose I should answer that. Nimrod will be built about 30 years in the future." She wished the X-Men weren't so hostile; in her time Magneto had been a hero, working with the X-Men to fight the Sentinels. 

Magneto absorbed this for a moment. "And you know this because..." 

"He followed me here." 

"I see." He thought quickly. "Tell us about him. What kind of future would build such a monstrosity?" 

"I can do better than that. I can show you." She concentrated, then began broadcasting an edited version of her memories. The Mutant Registration Act. The Mutant Control Provisions. Sentinels in every city. And, later, the hunts, the camps, the mass graves... 

Greg was unpleasantly surprised to find that Rachel was a telepath, but that was dwarfed by his revulsion at the images she showed them. The other X-Men had seen it before; that only helped a little. There was a ghastly pause when she'd finished. 

"Oh my God." Fortress was leaning against the wall, slowly sliding down to a crouch. "Oh my God..." 

Toad was hunched over, trying not to vomit. Magneto looked very tired. "Not again," he murmured. 

------------

Things went swiftly after that. Everyone agreed, however grudgingly, that Nimrod had to be stopped, and stopped now. He would be expecting them; well, they would have to deal with that. 

They began to formulate a plan. "How can we punch his ticket?" Rogue asked. "Ah smashed him to bits once, and he re-formed in front of me. We need somethin' that'll stop him permanently." 

"Well, how did he do that? Can we interfere with that in some way?" Peter asked. 

"Shadowcat believes that he can maintain his consciousness even if he's destroyed, apparently in some energy-based form." Xavier noted. 

"How good is that guess?" Scott demanded. 

"Pretty solid." she replied. "The only other way I can think of to do it would be nanotechnology. Rachel's pretty sure that they didn't have that kind of tech when they built him. I'm inclined to agree; he'd be even nastier if they did." Toad and Unus tried to imagine something worse than the horror they'd faced, and couldn't. 

"If it is indeed energy-based, I can destroy it," Magneto stated confidently. Given his powers, no one had any objection. 

"So all we gotta do is smash him to kingdom come, and Maggie can toast him. But who's gonna bell the cat?" Logan looked around the room. "I mean, none of us did so well against him, the way he is now. And we gotta assume that there will be more of his super-Sentinels around." 

"We may be able to even the odds a bit." Kitty was thoughtful. She had Xavier call down Doug Ramsey, the newest New Mutant. His power wasn't terribly useful in combat - he instinctively, intuitively understood languages and communication. 

However, he was extremely useful in other ways. Professor Xavier had written several books; his publishers were desperate to find out who his new contract lawyer was. The ACLU had received several anonymous, amazingly valuable briefs helping them in some mutant-related cases. 

Doug was also a computer programmer, in the same way that Einstein was a physicist and Picasso was a painter. He practically redefined the topic. He could do more in 10K of BASIC than most professional programming teams could do in a megabyte of assembly. 

He talked with Magneto for about fifteen minutes, learning about the systems on the station. He thought a bit, then proposed a series of four viruses that worked in synergy with each other. No one could really follow his explanation, but he was sure he could write them by morning. 

"I don't think Nimrod could have completely rebuilt the station yet. He must still be using at least some of the original systems. These viruses will infect those systems, and if he's interfaced with them at all, they'll infect him." 

"How sure are you that this will work?" Storm was ever practical in situations like this. 

"Obviously I can't be completely sure, but they're based on some very different principles than most viruses. I have some vague ideas for ways to stop this kind of attack, but it'd take me months, at least, to implement them. I can't imagine even Nimrod could come up with that kind of response on the spot." 

"If he can, we're screwed anyway." Rogue's appraisal was honest, if disheartening. 

"How are we going to get there?" Greg broke in. "We don't have a lot of time to waste, and this place sounds like it's over a light-second away. That ship we saw outside won't hold all of us." 

"Who said you're going?" Kurt interposed. "I'm sorry, but you are far too inexperienced for a mission like this." 

Scott and Ororo agreed, nodding. "You're not an X-Man yet," Scott said. 

"You've only been trainin' for a few days," Rogue told him, apologetically. 

Greg glared at them. "If you think I'm going to stay here, after seeing that future, you'd better think again. I did just fine last time. You said yourself that I helped a lot." 

"That's one of the reasons you're not going; he's seen you in action, and he'll have something prepared to fight you." Rachel said gently. 

"That's bullshit. The same goes for all of you. You need all the help you can get, and you know it. Hell, Storm doesn't even have her powers anymore." 

No one really had an objection to that. Rogue really wished she could come up with one, though. 

------------

Nimrod was pleased. Or, rather, he was not aware of any significant problems and indications were favorable for achieving his objectives. 

He had undertaken an extensive self-analysis, and had almost succeeded in eliminating the emotional responses he'd been experiencing. They were too much of a risk. Emotions bred carelessness; carelessness bred mistakes. 

Production of Sentinels was proceeding apace; shortly there would be dozens. The ore of the asteroid was, as anticipated, rich with raw materials. In the next battle, his forces would not be outnumbered. He reviewed his calculations again. Magneto would almost certainly have contacted the X-Men by this point, to a probability of 97.8123%. 

The mutants would be attacking in the range of two (43.8721%) to five (15.1498%) days. There were many traps to prepare... 


	11. The Battle For Asteroid M

Chapter Ten - "The Battle For Asteroid M"

Another mutant was called in to help. Lila Cheney was a famous rock star, and Greg was shocked to find out she was a mutant as well. Her power was very useful - she could teleport enormous distances. In fact, she couldn't teleport any less than about a light year. But, by jumping through a couple of stops, she could get them to Asteroid M very quickly. 

The X-Men were pulling out a set of Shi'ar spacesuits from storage. "We cannot trust the life support on Asteroid M anymore. Rogue - you, Colossus, and Fortress can use these, " Storm said. 

'These' turned out to be simple helmets with a small air supply. The mutants' invulnerability would protect their bodies from vacuum. Colossus didn't need to breathe when armored, but with the helmet he could stay in radio communication. Greg was relieved - in a full spacesuit, he wouldn't have been able to extend his field. 

"I'm afraid we don't have any suits for you," Ororo told Magneto and his followers. "Are there any on your ship?" 

"Actually, I have a better idea," Magneto replied, "which might help you out as well. I have a secondary station, which no one else has, ere now, been told of." Toad and Unus exchanged glances - they hadn't known either. He continued, "It was my prototype station. It's much smaller than Asteroid M, and it's in a far more distant orbit, but it serves as a good laboratory. I've stored some weapons there which may aid our campaign." 

------------

Magneto had given the coordinates to Lila, who had quickly transported the group to 'Asteroid N'. She said the intermediate stop that they'd flashed through was a restaurant on a planet near Sirius. Greg wished they'd been able to linger, but they'd appeared and disappeared in less than a second. 

The air was cold, there was little gravity, and the walls were bare rock. But the lab they'd appeared in was large enough for them all. Toad and Unus were getting into spacesuits. _{What good am I going to be if I can't use my power?}_ Unus thought. _{If I repel anything, I'll tear open my suit...}_ He thought of Lorelei and his resolve stiffened. 

Magneto was opening some cabinets and pulling out items. "This should cause batteries to discharge explosively. This creates large, opposed magnetic fields in metals; they tear apart violently. This uses induction; it simply melts them. This is a directed EMP weapon; it should disrupt electronics even through significant shielding. Don't point it at any of us." 

"Nimrod, at least, is mostly based on optical circuits. It won't hurt him much." Rachel explained. "It might work on the other Sentinels, if they follow the same design as I know, but they're well protected." 

"Really. Well, in that case, perhaps this is a better choice. It puts a great deal of stress on optical materials, changing their refractive index sharply. I use the same principle in those telescopes over there. It might cause Nimrod some discomfort." 

Shadowcat was prowling like her namesake, and came across an irregular blob of silvery metal. "What's this?" she asked. 

Magneto glanced over. "Adamantium. I was investigating its properties. I can shape it while it's forming, but once solidified, I haven't been able to affect it." 

"I wouldn't say that," Wolverine noted. His adamantium-laced skeleton had been jerked about by Magneto before. 

"I stand corrected," Magneto replied. He continued excavating weapons. He was a bit troubled to be sharing so much with his former enemies, but the fight with Nimrod had been very convincing. "Here, Storm, this propels rounds of metal-sheathed carbon fibers. It has a substantial recoil, but the fibers pick up a charge on impact and spread through the target. It completely ruins electronics, motors and transformers." 

Away from Earth's magnetic field, Xavier and Rachel could communicate over vast distances. Lila would transport the forces across the two light-seconds to Asteroid M, then return to N and wait to be called. Everyone thought it wise to have a quick exit available. 

"There will be two teams. Alpha team will be me, Colossus, Professor X, Nightcrawler, Toad, Unus, and Fortress. Beta team is Storm, Rogue, Magneto, Shadowcat, Phoenix, and Wolverine." They'd been over the plan before, but Cyclops was a firm believer in review. 

Rogue and Fortress weren't happy about being separated, but Scott and Ororo had agreed that it was best that they not be distracted by each other in combat. For not entirely different reasons, Kitty and Peter had been placed on different teams. Rachel and Xavier were split to afford a psychic channel of communication between groups. 

"Alpha team's primary goal is to infect the station with the viruses. Beta team is going to take on Nimrod. We're each carrying copies of the viruses, though, so if it doesn't work out that way we can still complete both objectives." He paused. "We have to expect lots of those new Sentinels, and plenty of traps. Our key advantage will be a certain amount of surprise - he probably isn't expecting us for another day or two. But we're going to have to move fast to make much use of it." 

------------

Alpha team materialized in what had been the galley of the station; located near the hydroponic garden, it offered reasonable cover and a straight shot to the main control room. 

Lila disappeared instantly to fetch the Beta team. The mutants dashed for cover behind a counter and took stock. Much of the kitchen had been stripped; very little remained of any technology more complicated than a fork. Food lay rotting everywhere; they were glad for their sealed air supplies. 

"All right," Scott called across their (hopefully secure) radio link, "let's go, by squads, leapfrog." The mutants moved into the garden in teams of three and four, alternately charging forward or providing cover. The garden was a mess; robots didn't need food or air, and had stripped this area for parts too. The only light came from the clear windows above, which filtered the sunlight to Earth-normal. 

It didn't take long for the mutants to run into problems. Three Sentinels emerged from under the garden, blasting energy at their targets. Colossus protected Professor X and Toad, while Cyclops ducked and Fortress put a shield before Nightcrawler and Unus. 

Unus slid to the side and fired the EMP weapon at one of the Sentinels. The effect was immediate; it looked like the robot had suffered a stroke as half its body went limp. The other half continued firing, even as the robot fell. 

The other Sentinels were advancing quickly, however, and Professor X's induction gun wasn't having a major effect. Cyclops took one Sentinel in the leg and it went over. The remaining Sentinel had turned red, though, and Scott's hopes sank. 

Fortress focused his field into a cylinder with a sharp tip and pushed it into the red Sentinel with all his might. It plunged through and emerged out the other side, scattering parts across the garden. Cyclops finished off the robot he'd knocked over and looked to see how he could help. Toad was using the battery weapon on the half-paralyzed Sentinel; something rumbled inside and the robot collapsed. Colossus had practically dismantled the third robot as soon as Fortress had it on the ground. 

_{So far so good,}_ Scott thought. "Okay, regroup and move! We don't have a lot of time!" 

But as soon as the teams resumed their advance, three more Sentinels came out of the main control room towards them. And behind them, Nimrod hovered, blocking the entrance itself. 

------------

Beta team appeared on the outer surface of the asteroid, magnetic boots holding them to the rock. They had chosen to start near the engineering areas; it was likely that Nimrod would be there, building new Sentinels. They moved as quickly as they could, aiming for a bulkhead they could tear through and start their hunt. It was hard walking in the boots; that and the lack of gravity slowed them down more than they liked. 

Rogue and Phoenix flew "above" them, trying to look in all directions at once. Phoenix spotted the four approaching Sentinels an instant before they opened fire. Her telepathic warning reached Rogue just in time; she'd been reflexively counting on her seventh-sense to alert her to danger. She ducked and a blast shot over her head. The rest of the team had dived into a cleft in the rock and began return fire. 

Magneto found to his dismay that these Sentinels were just as immune to his powers as Nimrod. He tore a large chunk of iron off of the asteroid and hurled it at one of the machines, nearly breaking it in half. Wolverine was firing the metal-shredder; it caused some cracks in a Sentinel's armor, but not much more. 

Rachel couldn't directly affect the robots, either. She was able to block some of the energy bolts, and once managed to reflect one back at the robot that sent it, damaging its hip. Storm's charged-fiber weapon turned out to be devastating; one Sentinel almost disintegrated from the shock, and the one Rachel had damaged lost an entire arm. 

Rogue had kept low, hugging the surface of the asteroid, leading the fourth one away from the battle. She'd palmed several heavy chunks of ore; after ducking behind some cover (she wasn't about to repeat the mistake she'd made last time), she turned and began pitching them. The Sentinel nearly melted through the outcropping she hid behind, but it finally froze up after the tenth projectile shot through it with the force of a meteorite. _{Ah wonder how Greg's doin',}_ she worried as she flew to rejoin her team. 

Shadowcat had phased down into the base, into engineering. She saw at least forty Sentinels in various stages of construction and nervously avoided them, looking for a terminal to plant the viruses with. By then Xavier had relayed that they'd spotted Nimrod, so the team's roles were reversed. 

------------

If Nimrod had still been subject to emotion, he would have been annoyed. The mutants had arrived significantly earlier than he'd planned; there had been only a 2.0349% chance of them attacking so soon. He wasn't optimally prepared. He had a little under two dozen operational Sentinels; many more were still being constructed. Most of his traps were incomplete. 

Still, the extra sensors he'd scattered liberally across the station were paying off. He'd known when both teams had arrived and he'd been able to route Sentinels appropriately. He wasn't using overwhelming force yet; best to sacrifice a few troops early and determine their stratagems, develop countermeasures. Though not to the degree he'd planned, he did have the advantage of numbers now. They had some weapons he hadn't expected, but nothing that couldn't be countered. 

The teleporter was a definite problem, however. She introduced too much uncertainty - she'd already cost him in surprise. He'd need to disable her, trap the mutants on the base. He began formulating a plan, integrating the feedback from the other Sentinels. 

------------

Colossus was charging a Sentinel. It had responded by lashing out with a blast of what had to be liquid nitrogen; he was slowing, he could almost feel his metal body getting brittle. Vainly he tried to reach the robot, do some damage before it shattered him. 

Xavier had been feeling useless; the weapon he carried didn't affect the Sentinels at all. Now he saw an opportunity to do some good. He turned the induction gun to low power and used it on Colossus. At first Peter didn't understand where the heat came from, but it allowed him to reach the Sentinel and piledrive an arm into its head. 

Nightcrawler had gotten a fix on the other team through the psi-link that the telepaths were maintaining. After a nearly instantaneous nonverbal conference with Cyclops and Storm, he did some very fast teleporting. He grabbed Unus and teleported to Beta team, then took Wolverine back with him. The strain was exhausting, but Wolverine, being their best marksman, had the optical disruptor. 

While this was going on, Cyclops and Toad were working on the second of the defending Sentinels, as Fortress frantically dodged and parried with the third. Toad's weapon seemed to have a diminished effect this time; the machine slowed but did not stop. Cyclops' blasts were not accomplishing anything. Fortress's opponent had developed a field of its own that protected it. 

Xavier and Colossus saw this and acted to help out, telepathically alerting their teammates. Their Sentinel was still blasting freezing liquid and vigorously trying to determine the mutant's locations. Colossus picked it up and pointed the cold stream at Cyclops' foe. The robots were continually exchanging data, and the stream stopped shortly, but the target was already collecting frost. Xavier cranked the induction gun to its maximum output, pointing it at the rock wall next to the massive robot. 

Molten ore sagged over the frigid machine; the resulting thermal stress shattered its outer armor, allowing the red-hot liquid inside. The shriek of frying metal was deafening. 

Meanwhile, Cyclops was blasting the shielded robot for all he was worth; the whitish curtain of energy was visibly collapsing. Colossus threw his struggling captive, knocking over the beleaguered machine and destroying the field completely. Fortress smashed down with a hammer of force that crushed both Sentinels into rubble. 

Nimrod had analyzed all this cautiously; he upgraded his assessment of the danger they represented. Their coordinated support of each other made them extremely effective. Even his advanced Sentinels had trouble defending against three or four threats at once. He began to prioritize targets; Cyclops and Professor X were unquestionably leaders, and should be eliminated first. He aimed a disintegrator ray at Xavier... 

But Wolverine had drawn a bead on the ultimate Sentinel and fired the optical disruptor. Nimrod jerked like a fish on a line, random noise emitting from his many sonic outputs. A beam of white light flashed from his eyes into the floor, evaporating some water. His arms flailed. 

Colossus and Fortress shot forward, ready to pulverize the deadly machine to powder. A very low-level, very reliable backup system kicked in and Nimrod disappeared in a sizzling flash. The mutants stopped short, dismayed. 

Five more Sentinels emerged from the galley behind them. Wolverine's enhanced hearing picked them up in the nick of time. 

------------

Beta team had forced their way inside the base and was besieged in engineering. They had thought to destroy the incomplete Sentinels but had been intercepted by functional ones. Fortunately, the collateral damage of the battle seemed to be taking a toll on their surroundings. 

There had been six Sentinels at first, and they were down to five. But Ororo's fiber weapon was no longer effective; the Sentinels seemed to be running a charge across their surface which dispersed the strands before they penetrated. Magneto was shielding the other team members with his powers while simultaneously throwing parts at the robots. Rachel had destroyed the floor under two Sentinels, dropping them a level and giving the group some breathing room. 

Nightcrawler appeared, carrying Unus; he left with Wolverine. Unus was disoriented and weak from the teleporting; Storm traded weapons and began using the EMP gun, with a little better success - this group hadn't been fully prepared for that weapon. Rogue broke out some of the roof and collapsed it onto one of their foes. 

Split from her teammates, Shadowcat had found a terminal and begun deploying the viruses. It would take a few seconds for the upload to complete; she hoped it would finish before the Sentinel chasing her had a chance to lock on. Leading the robot away from the terminal, she phased through walls and floors as fast as she could; it was only a little faster than the Sentinel could smash through them. 


	12. With Enemies Like These

Chapter Eleven - "With Enemies Like These..."

Nightcrawler was getting worried. They were losing their chance to press the attack on Nimrod; the Sentinels were adapting too quickly. Wolverine's optical disruptor had proven useless on the Sentinels; the metal shredder was only marginally useful. He and Colossus had teamed up and eliminated one of the killing machines. 

Xavier melted another wall of rock, and Cyclops' optic blasts hurled the slag at a Sentinel, clogging the cannon its hand had become. Fortress slashed at it with a razor the size of a car windshield, cutting it in half, but a blast from its eyes knocked him across the garden; he still didn't dodge very well. Toad's battery weapon worked if their armor was pierced, though, and that Sentinel was quickly eliminated. 

That left three very active killing machines. Nightcrawler suddenly realized that one of them was drawing a bead on Cyclops, who was too far from cover. Fortress was still recovering, Colossus was busy, Toad and Xavier weren't effective against undamaged Sentinels... 

Kurt teleported rapidly, and then **BAMF**ed Cyclops away just ahead of a powerful laser burst. It was easier here; the rock had a strong natural magnetic field. And that gave him an idea. 

While Scott recovered, Nightcrawler grabbed a branch from a shattered tree. When Rogue had battled Nimrod before, she had absorbed half the X-Men's powers, including Kurt's. She had used them in a way that Kurt had seldom done - teleporting part of Nimrod. The strain had been incredible, she'd told him later. Even if he felt up to it, it had been used before, and was therefore too dangerous to try again. 

So he did the reverse. He sighted the distance, then fighting his instincts, **BAMF**! he was six feet in the air, a foot and a half behind the nearest Sentinel. The branch was seven feet long, however... and was embedded in the robot. 

The resulting damage was severe. Something inside exploded, and sparks flew from several joints. A garbled **SQUARK** came out of the robot's "voicebox" as it fell to the ground. 

The problem was, Nightcrawler didn't feel much better. He hurt all over; he very nearly hadn't materialized at all. He fell clumsily and couldn't find the energy to move. The remaining Sentinels were quick to take advantage of this. Some vile derivative of ball lightning streaked across the garden and exploded inches from him. A huge shock went through him and he passed out. 

Nimrod emerged from the galley, repaired and gleaming. He had lost some short-term memories but they were being reconstructed from his datalink with the other machines. He resumed planning a means to neutralize the long-range teleporter, at the same time choosing targets for the current skirmish. 

------------

Beta team had retreated from engineering, and they were fighting a running battle, heading toward the garden, Alpha team, and Nimrod. They'd only accounted for one more Sentinel, and the remaining four were chasing them like hounds on the hunt. 

Unus led the way, with Magneto and Rachel covering from the rear. Rachel tried not to worry too much about Shadowcat; she could sense Kitty's fear as she barely kept ahead of the robot chasing her. Their main hope now was that the viruses would kick in soon. 

Storm fired the EMP weapon at the door ahead, and Rogue easily slid the now-unlocked hatch open. Unus leaped after them and Magneto and Phoenix slipped through, one maintaining a shield while the other slammed the door closed and sealed it. 

Shadowcat emerged from a bulkhead in front of them, glad to rejoin the team. But her pursuer smashed through the wall immediately after her, and Beta team had to focus their efforts on the new threat. Kitty grabbed Storm, phasing her into intangibility in the hope it would protect them. 

Magneto and Rachel smashed at the robot with whatever was handy, trying to breach the armor so that one of the weapons could do some damage. They could hear their pursuers banging on the door behind them, tearing it down. 

------------

Wolverine fired quickly at Nimrod, but the disruptor had no obvious effect. Xavier's induction gun, on tight focus and full power, evaporated the floor beneath the hovering Sentinel, engulfing it in a cloud of white-hot debris and buying them a few seconds. Professor X realized his weapon was almost out of charge. 

Colossus threw a discarded robot arm at one Sentinel, and Cyclops gave it a boost with an optic blast. It bowled the robot over but didn't damage it. Fortress had put up a reflective shield and was bouncing energy pulses back at the remaining machine. 

Lila appeared, summoned to evacuate Nightcrawler. Nimrod took the opportunity; a strange distortion seemed to ripple through the air between them. She screamed and fell to her knees. Toad fired his gun at Nimrod with no effect. 

Then the viruses kicked in. The Sentinels all over the base froze. At first the mutants couldn't believe it; then Greg let out a whoop of joy. He wrapped his opponent in a tube of force and crushed it. 

Inside Nimrod, a little-used system was invoked. Dubbed the Ramsey Protocol, it had been designed by a mutant who had been captured and brainwashed in 2003. It had taken him years of work, but it could protect against almost any type of malicious code. The attacking programs were quickly identified, isolated, analyzed, and eliminated. One subroutine was deemed useful and quickly incorporated into Nimrod's own software. 

The recovery came too late; a shaken Lila had teleported away with Kurt. But all the mutants felt something close to despair when the robots suddenly began moving again. 

------------

Beta team had nearly reached the garden. When the Sentinels had seized up, they'd quickly destroyed the one blocking their way and moved on to help take out Nimrod. They had a small head start on the robots chasing them that was rapidly diminishing. 

"Through here!" Unus called, grabbing a door latch. "We're almost there!" he cried as he turned it. 

The explosion wasn't large, but it shredded his pressure suit and sent him tumbling into Storm and Shadowcat. Unus was unconscious and bloody; only his field had kept him alive. "A trap!" Magneto shouted; he was appalled that his station had been so perverted. 

Lila needed a lot of courage to return for Unus, but she retrieved him as the remainder of Beta team hurried down the last corridor toward the garden, the clang of Sentinel footsteps growing louder all the time. 

------------

Fortress slashed at Nimrod with a long blade of force, but it halted inches from his shining surface, held back by a screen of energy. A neutral particle beam took Greg in the chest and sent him crashing through a wall. 

Wolverine had dropped the disruptor; it just didn't work anymore. The metal-shredder tore apart a stanchion next to Nimrod but brought no other result. Xavier's induction gun was almost totally drained; with its last charge he softened the floor under the Sentinel fighting Colossus, disturbing its balance. Peter landed a powerful blow but didn't breach the armor. 

In desperation, Cyclops tried to buy some time. Telepathically warning the others, he turned his blasts full-force against the transparent ceiling. A hole the size of a truck opened onto space. 

Hurricane winds suddenly tore through the garden; tons of debris sucked out into the void. Nimrod was unmoved; the mutants clung to the ground. Colossus' opponent was sucked upward, but grabbed onto a pole and brought a blaster around to face Xavier. He saw it, but couldn't let go of the roots he held, or he'd be sucked into space. In the roar of the wind, no one could hear the cannon charging up. 

Toad had always had things tough. An ugly child in an orphanage, he'd been teased and beaten regularly. Misclassified as retarded, it had taken years for him to realize he was of normal intelligence, perhaps a bit more. He'd followed Magneto because he was a strong leader, and seemed to promise a way to strike back against those who'd wronged him. 

Rachel's vision of the future had rocked him to the core. Even knowing what Magneto had gone through, even after what had happened to him, he'd never fully believed that something like that could really happen. He'd realized that even at their worst, his tormenters had never tried to kill him; he had received their contempt, but never their hatred, nor the businesslike efficiency of true evil. 

He decided that he could not hide behind those kinds of illusions anymore. The threat was real, and horrible, and direct. It was with only mild surprise that he found himself leaping across the garden, effortlessly compensating for the howling winds. He bounced up to the ceiling, and using the full power of his superhumanly strong legs, diverted the cannon blast toward Nimrod. 

Nimrod was hurled backward, but the other Sentinel simply turned its head toward Toad and its eyes lashed out with power. Toad was dead before he hit the ground. The winds were dying as the air on the station was exhausted. 

"Whaddaya know," Logan murmured as he stood up to press the attack, "the frog was a prince after all." It was a brief but fitting epitaph. 

Beta team sprang from the control room, powers flaring and guns blazing. The Sentinel that had killed Toad succumbed to the combined might of Storm's EMP weapon, Kitty's fiber gun, and Rachel's telekinesis. Magneto hurled a blast of electricity at Nimrod, but the robot merely absorbed it as he stood. 

Fortress had emerged from the wall and swooped towards Nimrod. His field was strongest close to his body; he wanted to see what a full-power uppercut would do to the vicious thing. Nimrod judged angles and readied his counterstrike. 

Greg's blow rocked Nimrod back, but he was able to fire his weapon. The exotic particle beam he used was a compromise; in order to breach the protective field, it wasn't optimally composed to do damage to human flesh. It tore through Greg's shield like a fire hose through a spiderweb, but it only punched a hole through his abdomen the diameter of a quarter. 

Greg faltered, agony ripping through him. A blast of ball lightning exploded in his face, throwing him back a dozen feet and shattering his helmet. His field repelled much of the charge, but weakened as he was, some still got through. 

Rogue screamed, "NO!" and threw the steel rod she held at Nimrod; it actually dented his casing. The other mutants launched their own attacks, trying to eliminate Nimrod before the other Sentinels arrived. 

She dived down, pulling Fortress away from the battle. She "heard" Xavier summoning Lila again, and Lila's reluctant assent. The teleporter appeared next to Fortress, who was pale where he wasn't burned. Blood leaked from both his stomach and back into vacuum. 

Not able to stop herself, she grabbed onto Greg at the same time Lila did. All three vanished before Nimrod, the target of several attacks, could strike. 

------------

"What are you doing here!" Lila cried in the lab at Asteroid N. "You've got to get back!" She stared at the girl, torn between returning to the battle and finishing the first aid for Unus. Kurt lay bandaged in a corner. 

Rogue ignored her, tearing off her helmet, kneeling by Fortress, tears threatening to burst forth. "C'mon, sugar, don't you die on me!" she called. 

Greg opened his eyes. "I don't think I have a lot of choice," he said weakly. 

"Don't talk like that! You're gonna be just fine." She tried to keep hysteria out of her voice. Carol sympathized, though she thought Rogue sounded like a bad movie. But really, what else could she say? 

He choked, a little blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Wish we could've..." He coughed. "...had that third date." 

"Please. Don't die. Please." Despair welled up inside. 

"C'mere. Last request..." he said, almost inaudibly. She leaned down, and pressed her lips to his. The only present he could give washed into her; he'd suppressed his field. 

What they had wasn't love, not exactly. Two weeks, a couple of dates; this is not enough time to fix a lasting relationship, no matter what the movies and storybooks say. Friendship they had, and attraction. These were seeds that could, in time, grow into love. 

But few people in history were ever as intimately connected as Rogue and Fortress became then. She saw his memories, his personality, his self - and he saw hers. They knew each other, and found they could forgive each other's faults and weaknesses, and appreciate their strengths and potential. They knew that, in time, they would have been lovers in a true sense. 

Crying softly, Rogue felt his powers coursing through her. Her skin had turned reflective; she looked like a quicksilver statue. There was simply no doubt in her mind about what to do next. She stood and turned to Lila. "You'd best get them off that rock. Y'all ain't gonna want to be around when Ah get there." 

She effortlessly ripped the hunk of adamantium from its clamp on the workbench. Not bothering to put her helmet back on, she stepped out of the airlock. 

Lila stared after her for a moment, then concentrated for her teleport to the station. Mirrored as she had been, her eyes were impossible to read, but the tone in Rogue's voice brooked no disagreement. 

------------

The situation was desperate when Lila appeared. Nimrod was hosing energy blasts across the chamber, devastatingly powerful. The four remaining Sentinels had arrived, pinning the mutants in a crossfire. None of the weapons seemed to do any good anymore. 

Wolverine was under one of the Sentinels, about to be crushed by a descending foot. Magneto called, _{Go limp!}_ across the psi-link the telepaths maintained. Logan did; an instant later, he understood why. 

Magneto was magnetically animating his metal skeleton, wielding his claws with a strength far beyond Wolverine's own. The robot's boot was quickly shredded, and an instant later its chest was open. 

Lila grabbed Xavier, projecting what she'd seen into his mind. He summoned the team. Rachel telekinetically pulled the mutants together, and Lila beamed them away, barely ahead of Nimrod's distortion ray. 

------------

Perhaps it was the same mysterious factor that had amplified Ms. Marvel's powers when Rogue absorbed them. Or possibly Fortress' powers and Ms. Marvel's worked together in synergy. 

Then again, some mutants had, in extreme situations, displayed powers far beyond their normal limits - not unlike the "hysterical strength" some humans exhibited in a crisis. The first Phoenix, driven mad, had destroyed a star. Storm, pressed beyond endurance, had generated a hurricane the size of a continent. And Rogue was in more pain, more fury, and more despair than she'd imagined possible. 

Whatever the reasons, it was well that her chosen weapon was made of adamantium. Nothing else could have withstood the stress as she launched herself toward Asteroid M, seventh-sense guiding her aim. She started at well over ten thousand gravities of acceleration, and it kept increasing. 

------------

Nimrod wasn't worried, not precisely. But, despite the effort he'd gone through to purge himself of emotion, he was concerned. The mutants had fled too quickly. They would have lost, of course, but all his profiles suggested they would not accept that. Or at least, there was a 97.3561% probability that they would not realize it so soon. Yet they had retreated. 

The probability was only 0.0066% that they would give up, even after realizing the futility of their struggle. Therefore, they must have engineered some type of threat. All of the existing systems were operating correctly, or being repaired, to a 99.9988% probability - they had not been substantially damaged. Therefore, the invaders must have left something behind. 

But they couldn't have left anything behind. Like the other Sentinels, he was hooked into every sensor, every system on the entire base. If anything was left behind, he would know. There were a few items - a discarded weapon, exhaled gases, some blood, scraps of costume and pressure suit. Nothing that could threaten the base. 

He flew through the hole in the roof and put himself in orbit around the asteroid about a thousand feet out, searching for anything out of place. Then, something streaked by the rock at an impossible speed, narrowly avoiding a collision. His sensors couldn't identify it - they had almost missed it completely. 

In another disturbing display of feeling, of emotions he should not have, he suddenly knew what was meant by the phrase "dawning horror". Nimrod spun around, faster than any human could have followed, bringing up his strongest force shield. 

Twelve pounds of adamantium slammed through him at almost 40% of the speed of light. Three millionths of a second later, it struck Asteroid M. 

By the time the mutants could get their telescopes focused, there was very little left of either the base or Nimrod but a rapidly-expanding cloud of superheated plasma, with a few elementary particles thrown in for seasoning. 


	13. Denouement

Chapter Twelve - "Denouement"

She had begun slowing down for a second pass at the asteroid when Fortress' powers started to fade. Her first thought wasn't for her own safety - it was grief that she would lose the last part of Greg that remained. He felt it, too. His consciousness fought to recall how he'd felt about her, what she'd meant to him - the last gifts he could give, which dissolved even as he struggled. 

Rogue took one last deep breath before the forcefield bubble that held her air supply disappeared. Greg faded away completely, but his last thought echoed in her mind. _{Goodbye, I loved you...}_

She cried again, though her tears evaporated in the sudden vacuum. Finally she began to wonder if she was going to get out of this situation. She had to be over half a million miles from her friends, getting further all the time at better than a quarter of lightspeed. 

_{Wherever you are, Greg, Ah might be seein' you sooner than you expected,}_ she thought. She fought to slow down, to turn back, though she knew it was hopeless. Her love had died, and she couldn't hold her breath for the days it would take to get back to the X-Men. 

More from force of habit than anything else, she kept pushing, even as gray smudges began to edge into her peripheral vision. _{The stars are so bright out here,}_ she thought. She couldn't hold her breath anymore... she was gasping, but there wasn't any air... 

------------

Awareness came slowly. It snuck up on her. It was a while before she remembered that she shouldn't be aware at all. When that thought struck her, she opened her eyes. 

Things came into focus gradually. She was in the infirmary in the X-mansion. An oxygen mask was on her face. Medical equipment made various beeps and clicks. Curtains shielded her from the other beds. Xavier was across the room, his back to her. He sensed that she was awake and turned to face her. 

"Welcome back," he said. "You were, as usual, indecently lucky. Rachel and I could barely find you, you were so far away." His smile belied the sharp tone in his voice. 

"But how..." she coughed. Her throat was raw. _{How did you rescue me? Ah was goin' so fast!}_ She cast her thoughts at Xavier. 

_{Once we had a fix on your position, Lila simply teleported over and picked you up.}_ He sensed her objections forming, and forestalled them. _{She always appears at rest with respect to whatever she's teleporting to. If you think a moment, you'll see that she has to. After all, she can jump across the galaxy. Picture the relative velocities involved.}_ There was an odd "echo" in his mental "voice". 

_{That makes sense,}_ she conceded. _{Is Magneto...}_

_{He was upset that you destroyed his base, but I think he's quite relieved to be rid of Nimrod. He left with Unus a while ago. I'm given to understand that the truce between us is at an end.}_

_{Can Ah see... Where's Greg's...}_ She couldn't complete the thought. 

_{As to that,}_ Xavier said, approaching her bed, _{it's simplest just to show you.}_ He drew the curtain on her right back, and she could see the next bed. 

Greg smiled from behind his own mask. He had bandages across his stomach, and he still looked a little pale, but he was alive. Rogue dimly heard an accelerating beeping noise, and realized some machine was tracking her heartbeat. 

"You... erk..." she coughed. _{Prof, can you...}_

_{He already is,}_ she heard Greg's thoughts relayed in her mind. The echo! _{I've decided that some telepaths are useful, after all. I'd have gone crazy if Charley here hadn't sworn up and down that you didn't suffer any brain damage.}_

_{But you were bleedin' internally, half-electrocuted! You were dyin'!}_ It was so hard to accept; she wasn't experienced in hope. She was terrified that she'd wake out of this dream. 

_{Lila got me back here, and that Illyana girl found a healer, from the 'Morlocks', whoever they are. Considering what he had to work with, he did a pretty fair job. He couldn't heal me all the way - the stronger I got, the more my field got in the way. So he even had some left over for Nightcrawler and Unus.}_

She was staring, this time in shock. 

_{Don't look so surprised. From what I've gathered, this kind of thing happens around here a lot. I'm still kinda stiff, and I'll probably flunk midterms from all this time I missed, but... Hey, don't try to get up! Rest a bit. I want you to be fully able to appreciate the kiss I'm gonna lay on you.}_

He couldn't know what she had experienced when she'd absorbed him. Like a dream, even she was fuzzy on the details now; but she remembered the feeling. It leaked across the telepathic link. 

He winked at her. His green eyes were the most beautiful jewels in the world. 

------------

Understandably, Rogue had spent a great deal of time pondering the sex lives of others. She had long ago concluded that the couple that must have the best sex on Earth had to be Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. Given their powers, only an abject poverty of imagination could have prevented it. 

Greg had interesting powers himself, and did not lack for imagination. Rogue was positive Reed and Sue hadn't done what they had done at 20,000 feet. 

After all, those two would at least have needed jackets to protect them from the cold, right? 

_End_


End file.
